Former NBA legend Charles Barkley is a straight shooter, and we don’t mean from the three-point line.
He is a seasoned analyst who calls it as he sees it and is regarded as a top-rated commentator.
Speaking on a recent episode of Inside the NBA the Hall of Famer scoffed at suggestions NBA players would be able to handle the physicality of the NFL.
“I love LeBron as a person,” said Barkley, “but the notion that basketball players can play football, like yeah, they could play in high school ’cause they were bigger than everybody else, faster than everybody else.
Sir Charles Barkley retired in 2000, with an impressive 11 All Star appearances, over 23,000 points, 12,000+ rebounds and over 4000 assists.
Continuing the thread of the conversation he said, “Most of these guys never really played in college ’cause that’s when you really see how good you are when you go to college. And if you’re lucky enough to get to the pros, that’s the creme de la creme — that’s the top of the line.
“But I love these basketball players talking about, ‘Well, I was good back then.’ I’m like, Dude, you can’t play football. These are grown men out here; they’ll kill you.”
Barkley stands 6 ft 6 and weighed in at 242 pounds when he was at his peak, but even this frame could not handle football practice.
“It wasn’t my cup of tea, man,” Barley said. “They put me on the defensive line and I ran into a guy full speed for like two and a half hours. I was like, ‘There’s zero talent in this thing right here.’ And I remember the last thing the coach said to me was, ‘I’ll see y’all tomorrow. I was like, ‘Yo, I’m not doing this ** tomorrow.”
Imagine Barkley as a tight end, plucking zipping balls in the N-zone. Now imagine an NBA history without Sir Charles dominating for the 76ers, Suns and Rockets.
We should all agree, Barkley was born to play basketball.
