Charles Barkley didn’t hold back Monday on the topic of load management in the NBA.
Barkley, an analyst for “NBA on TNT,” joined ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on “First Take” and went on a Barkley-like rant when talking about the topic.
“I don’t think fans get mad if you’re making 30, 40, 50 million dollars and playing basketball every night,” he said. “But you can’t make 30, 40, 50 million dollars and then sit out games. I think it’s disrespectful to the game, I think it’s disrespectful to the fans. These fans are paying their hard-earned money.
“What’s going to be crazy, in this next TV negotiating deal, we’re going to have guys making 70 or 80 million dollars a year! And (the fans) are going to say ‘wait a minute, you’re going to make 70 million dollars and you can’t play basketball three or four days a week?’ They fly private, they got the best medical stuff ever created.
“It ain’t like we working in a steel mill. There are people working in a steel mill and I’m pretty sure they’re tired too. But they go to work every day. I think load management is a big problem.”
Barkley also pointed a finger at NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Take a listen below.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
