Charles Barkley and LeBron James are involved in a war of words.
On TNT’s “Inside the NBA” show Thursday, Barkley criticized King James for taking questions about his plans in 2010 earlier this week in New York. The Knicks and Nets are both clearing cap room in order to sign James that year.
“The outside forces should never affect your locker room,” Barkley said. “I think LeBron has made some of the right comments, but he hasn’t made the perfect comment. He still alienated 11 guys in his locker room. What I mean by that, he hasn’t said, ‘We are 12-3 right now, we are a championship-caliber team and we are going to win multiple championships here while I’m here, period, end of story.’ ”
On Wednesday Barkley made similar comments on Dan Patrick’s radio show: “If I was LeBron James, I would shut the hell up.”
On Friday, James responded.
“He’s stupid,” James said of Barkley. “That’s all I have to say about that.”
Barkley also said James isn’t being considerate of the fans.
“LeBron James is one of my favorite players, but he’s been 100 percent wrong in this situation,” Barkley said. “It’s unfair to the city of Cleveland and it’s unfair to the Cleveland Cavaliers team. If it was a year away it would still be unfortunate. I wish he would sign a lifetime deal with the Cavaliers.”
