Barkley, who called his co-hosts “assholes” during halftime of an Oklahoma City Thunder/Los Angeles Lakers playoff game last year, is kinda known for speaking his mind.
His Okie-focused haterade started flowing half a decade ago when the TNT analyst and former NBA All-Star dissed the state as being “no place for black people” and claiming “the Oklahoma Sooners and the Hornets are the only brothers in town.” Sir Charles also teased Chris Paul of the then-OKC-based Hornets by asking if the point guard had cows and chickens in his yard, according to The Associated Press.
Barkley was recently called out for not fulfilling his 2006 promise to visit Oklahoma City by none other than Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman sports columnist famous for drawing the ire of Mike “I’m a Man” Gundy.
To date, Barkley has not been spotted sailing on a Bricktown water taxi with Rumble. But Charles did take another swipe at OKC’s relocation from the Emerald City. When TNT co-host David Aldridge noted that OKC is “7-2 all time at home against the Denver Nuggets in postseason playoff appearances,” Barkley blew a gasket, according to the Bleacher report.
“Hold on a second!” Barkley exclaimed. “Whadda you mean 7-2 all-time at home against the Nuggets? … That doesn’t count! You can’t take another city’s stats!” Sir Charles said “nobody’s” jerseys were hanging from the Oklahoma City Arena’s rafters.
“You know me and Michael Jordan scored like 50,000 points,” Barkley said. “You’re going to let Oklahoma City count Seattle’s stuff; I’m going to count Michael Jordan’s points with mine! We’re from the same era. We (were) in the same draft. You just lumped Oklahoma City and Seattle together!”
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2011.