The Los Angeles Lakers ended their three-game losing streak with Saturday’s 129-101 road win over the Steph Curry-less Golden State Warriors. It was a wire-to-wire thrashing led by Luka Dončić (26 points), LeBron James (22 points) and Austin Reaves (18 points). On Dončić’s 27th birthday the team ended the night on a great note.
The win improved their record to 35-24 good enough for the sixth seed as of now as they hold a 1.5 game lead over the Phoenix Suns. Despite their record, star power and current conference standing, not everyone believes they should warrant talk of being a contender.
Hall of Famer Is Tired Of Calling The Lakers Contenders
Speaking on the hit show “Inside The NBA” on TNT, Charles Barkley, the 1993 NBA MVP, didn’t hold back when discussing the Lakers.
“I get sick of people talking about they’re contenders,” Barkley said. “The Lakers are not a good team. They’re not athletic, they’re not good defensively. I guess we’re contractually obligated to talk about them every day.”
This isn’t the first time Basketball Hall of Famer has said something in regard to this, and each time he says it with more conviction than the previous time. Barkley even made a joke about the situation during halftime of the win over the Warriors as the Lakers held a big lead.
“I want to apologize to Laker Nation. Y’all are contenders. Y’all are whupping the hell out of the Warriors. They won four championships and y’all are making them look like they’re a G-League team.”
Barkley’s Lakers Disdain Sounds Familiar
Hearing the legend talk like this about the Lakers sounds a lot like what Michael Wilbon, the legendary ESPN NBA analyst and co-host of the network’s longest running show, after SportsCenter, “Pardon The Interruption” said about the network’s unnecessary coverage of Dallas Cowboys
“There’s nothing Jerry Jones says that I pay any attention to. Nothing,” Wilbon said. “Because the point of trying to decipher what he says and assign meaning to it is a damn waste of time, and I don’t have that much. Jerry Jones likes to hear himself talk. He likes to talk. He likes to stand in a room with reporters and talk. I’m sure if there’s nobody in the room, he’d stand there and talk.”
“The Cowboys, they’re not in the big action late. They’re not relevant in January. So he could be hurting his team while he’s doing it. Again, I don’t care about that because I don’t care about the Cowboys, even though I know most of the programming on this network is devoted to Jerry Jones and the Cowboys.”
Fans Chime In
Barkley’s comments had social media on fire, and fans expressed their varying opinions all over X.
“The Lakers are turning into the Dallas Cowboys of the NBA,” one fan said.
“Lakers, Yankees, Dodgers, Cowboys… No matter what Chuck,” another fan said.
“Let Charles Barkley cook. He is spot on. The Lakers are a first round exit and the media continuously glazes them. It’s pathetic,” a fan quipped.
“He’s not wrong. The Lakers are like the Cowboys. Only difference is that the Lakers have had more success and in recent years. But even when they both suck or they’re meh, national media has to talk about them. Something, anything,” a fan mentioned.
“He’s keeping it real. As a lakers fan who watches most games. This team can not compete with the likes of Denver, OKC, even Minnesota,” a fan spewed.
Chuck gon’ Chuck and he could care less who likes it, and in this instance he and Wilbon are 100 percent correct.
