The former eleven times NBA All-Star and two-time inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Charles Barkley has recently shared that the current state of the league is concerning and the players are responsible for their own issues.
Barkley was questioned about the league and its situation during a recent interview on Stephen A. Smith’s show. Barkley had spent more than twenty years in the media covering basketball and is one of the most prominent figures of the league.
Barkley also touched upon the new media rights deal and further highlighted other occurring facts in the league. According to awful announcing, he shared, “You have to be concerned. Everybody has to be concerned. Because the one thing you can’t do is alienate your fans. That’s the one thing you can’t do, because the fans make everything go. They buy our products. They watch our sport. And once you piss them off, there’s gonna be some repercussions.”
He further continued, “What’s gonna be interesting with this new TV deal when guys start making even more money. When you have guys making 75, 80, 90, God forbid $100 million a year to play basketball, and the guy says, ‘You know what, I’m gonna rest tonight.’ At some point the fans are gonna say, ‘I’ve had enough.’”
“Somebody did a lot of heavy lifting to put you in this situation. You’re not making all this money because you’re great at sports. Yeah, there’s a couple of them who are great at sports. But most of them were just born at the right time.”
