The Los Angeles Lakers are on the brink of elimination, and Charles Barkley is already preparing his nails for the coffin.
The longtime TNT broadcaster, and soon-to-be ESPN broadcaster, had plenty to say about the Lakers Wednesday during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” two days after they fell behind 3-1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
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To put it simply, Barkley wasn’t surprised. He also had some words for how his future employers at ESPN treat the team:
“The Lakers, I told you two months ago, six weeks ago, the Lakers aren’t a good team. They got two really, really good players, but not a good team. ESPN just swings on them like everything tastes like chicken, but the Lakers are not a good team. They’re going to lose either this round or next round, but more likely this round. They’re not very good.”
Asked to expand on the Lakers’ future with Luka Dončić and LeBron James, Barkley didn’t sound optimistic about the team’s current roster, which was assembled somewhat haphazardly via the trade that brought Dončić to Los Angeles.
Charles Barkley has seen enough from the Lakers, and their ESPN coverage. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
(Mitchell Layton via Getty Images)
Barkley took issue in particular with building around a player at James’ age, and with head coach JJ Redick’s decision to play the same five players for the entire second half in Game 4 on Sunday:
“The Lakers are not going to be a contender with the team they have now. Your best player can’t be 40. That makes no sense whatsoever. Your best player can’t be 40. And JJ was wrong the other night to play those guys the entire second half because No. 1, it’s probably going to affect them tonight. It definitely affected them down the stretch the other night. Both of those guys missed lay-ups and they made some mental mistakes with the ball.
“This is not the Lakers’ year. And people think I hate on the Lakers. I told you. I said, ‘The Lakers aren’t a good team.’ But ESPN was just swinging on them like they were damn King Kong.”
The Lakers are certainly in an interesting spot…
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