Charles Barkley is probably the most popular analyst in sports. So, when he recognizes someone else’s analysis, it resonates.
Late Thursday night on Inside the NBA, Barkley was debating about defense with Shaquille O’Neal when he thought back to a point a few of his favorite NFL analysts on ESPN have made.
Charles Barkley with some love for Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears and Chris Canty pic.twitter.com/5TyLIspp6S
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 26, 2024
“My NFL friends, I love watching Ryan Clark and Marcus Spears talk about, Chris Canty does a fabulous job also,” Barkley noted. “They say, ‘Coaches do two things, they’re either teaching it or they’re letting it happen.’ I said, ‘Man, that’s really good!’ And you are, you’re either teaching it or you’re letting it happen.”
Barkley’s point was that it’s hard to expect a team with bad defensive habits to just turn the effort on in the last two minutes of a close game. The team Barkley and Shaq were referring to was the Milwaukee Bucks, who fired head coach Adrian Griffin this week and hired Doc Rivers as his successor.
But it was pretty cool of Barkley to go cross-sport and cross-network to show Clark, Spears and Canty some love Thursday night. And Friday morning, while Canty was co-hosting his ESPN Radio show Unsportsmanlike with Evan Cohen and Michelle Smallmon, they showed him the shout-out from the NBA on TNT star and his reaction was awesome.
That’s love.
CHUCK 🤝 @ChrisCanty99 https://t.co/twwd2ogqgj pic.twitter.com/ytzVNtTGne
— UNSPORTSMANLIKE Radio (@UnSportsESPN) January 26, 2024
“That’s exactly what I say!” Canty said with excitement after hearing Barkley recite his coaching analysis. “He did shout me out. Appreciate it big fella. Chuckster! Showing some love!”
Canty’s reaction was genuine, as was Barkley’s praise of him and his NFL peers at ESPN. And considering Barkley’s popularity, entertainment value and success in media, there’s no better analyst to get some flowers from.
