Charles Barkley isn’t afraid to criticize anyone, including his future colleagues at ESPN.
Ahead of the Sixers’ loss to the Boston Celtics Thursday night, the TNT analyst and Hall of Famer went off on ESPN for what he described as an unhealthy focus on the Los Angeles Lakers at the cost of better teams, including the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Barkley blasted ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins by name, calling him “an idiot and a fool” over a comment he made on NBA Today Wednesday about the Lakers “saving the NBA” by trading for Luka Doncic.
“Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are saving the NBA,” Perkins said. “How excited were you all a month ago, before the Luka trade, about the NBA Finals?”
“The Lakers are doing great. Got a long way to go. But the reason the season’s been going great is the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Barkley said Thursday night. “The Cleveland Cavaliers have won 12 straight games. Oklahoma City got the MVP and they are on fire. Y’all are talking about who’s in second place. That’s the reason I get pissed.”
It didn’t take Perkins long to respond. Writing on social media, the former NBA champ called Barkley a “senior citizen” and challenged him to make similar remarks in person.
Perkins wasn’t the only target. Barkley also directed some venom at Stephen A. Smith (though he wasn’t mentioned by name) and others who continue to debate which is the greater player — LeBron James or Michael Jordan. Smith has been on all sides of the issue in recent weeks, but Barkley continues to have no patience with the argument itself.
“I’ve said it for years, the only people talking about LeBron and Michael is people on television who got no talent to talk about anything else,” Barkley said. “I been saying that for years. I ain’t hanging onto the ‘90s.”
Smith also had a response for Barkley, though it didn’t involve a defense of the tired LeBron-Jordan debate.
“Yo Chuck, stop the b.s. with the ‘y’all.’ Attach a name to it,” Smith wrote on social media Thursday night. “Once you come over here, there’s gonna be some folks waiting to call YOU a fool.”
“You know I love ya, though,” Smith added. “See y’all soon.”
Barkley had a similar beef with Perkins and his colleagues in 2013, when the former Sixers great diagnosed the network with “ESPN disease”— the need to say something provocative just to get attention.
At that time, it was Perkins’ suggestion Nikola Jokic won two MVP awards in part because the majority of voters are white sports writers and broadcasters, something Barkley described as “one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard.”
“I always talk about ESPN disease. A lot of these guys when they get on TV, they’re like, ‘Well, I’m on ESPN, I’ve got to say something provocative,’” Barkley said. “You guys probably got some fools calling in, agreeing with it. That’s the thing that bothers me.”
One thing no one is talking about? The Sixers, who have lost 14 of their past 16 games and current sit in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 20 games remaining this season.
NBA Eastern Conference standings
Stephen A. Smith gets paid
Speaking of Stephen A., he now has 100 million new reasons not to run for president.
ESPN’s resident argument maker has agreed on a new contract with the network that will pay him $20 million a year for the next five years, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
ESPN announced the new deal Friday morning, though the network didn’t reveal any financial details. Smith had previous been receiving $12 million a year, according to Marchand.
“I’m happy and honored to remain a member of the Disney/ESPN family for, at least, the next five years,” Smith said in a statement. “There’s only bigger and bigger things ahead. It starts with continuing to put in that work.”
Amazingly, Smith will reportedly be required to do less, even after securing a pay raise that makes him one of the highest-paid sports personalities on television. According to Marchand, Smith will continue to host First Take, but will pull back from other roles, including the network’s NBA coverage.
ESPN won’t be short of NBA talkers next season, since they’ll be adding Barkley and his Inside The NBA crew next season after TNT loses its NBA TV rights, with NBC and Amazon taking over.
» READ MORE: Stephen A. Smith flip-flops on LeBron; ex-6abc anchor Jamie Apody gets a new gig
Quick hits
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Audacy is going through another round of layoffs. There’s no word yet if anyone at 94.1 WIP was impacted, but 98.1 WOGL afternoon host Trey Morgan has exited the station, according to Barrett Media. Audacy emerged from bankruptcy in September as a private company and owns six stations in Philadelphia — WIP, WOGL, KYW Newsradio, New 96.5, 1210-AM WPHT, and B101.
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Jimmy Johnson officially retired from Fox Sports earlier this week after 31 years at the network, but he might not be gone too long. On her Calm Down podcast with Charissa Thompson, Fox sideline reporter Erin Andrews suggested Johnson will “come back every now and then.” Both Andrews and Thompson, who is also a sideline reporter with Fox, saw their contracts expire following the Super Bowl. But Andrews appeared to offer a hint at the future by saying Johnson’s retirement won’t feel real until “we kick off this season.”