If there was a moment that went truly viral during the first year of Inside the NBA on ESPN, it came from occasional cast member and Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green when he took a run at everyone’s favorite television personality, Charles Barkley.
It happened during the NBA Playoffs when Green started appearing regularly on the show after the Warriors were eliminated. After Barkley gave Green a tough time about the Warriors dynasty being over and what his NBA future looks like, Green delivered what many considered to be a low blow about Barkley’s final years in the league with the Houston Rockets.
Although he didn’t fire back during the segment, Barkley said that he and Green weren’t on the same level as players during a radio appearance the day after.
Things got a little tense on the ‘Inside the NBA set when Draymond took a shot at Chuck’s final years in Houston 😬 pic.twitter.com/g9xRH5H6qq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 6, 2026
While at last weekend’s celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe, Charles Barkley sat down for a podcast interview with Pardon My Take. And during the episode, he addressed the viral Inside the NBA confrontation. And in true Barkley fashion, he said that it wasn’t really anything he was concerned about because he and Green went for drinks at a dive bar after the show while NBA Twitter was on fire.
“Listen, Draymond is a good player. I was a great player… We’re not on the same level” -Charles Barkley on Pardon My Take pic.twitter.com/smr13HZSG9
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 17, 2026
“What was interesting about it, I didn’t even pay it that much of attention,” Barkley said. “So we go to a little dive bar after work all the time, and Dray went with me that night. And so I’m not even paying attention because I don’t do the internet. I don’t do internet sh*t. So I fly, and I land, and I got 100 messages. I’m like, what, somebody got traded or something? And then it was about the Draymond stuff, and I was like, ‘I never even gave that a second thought,’ but I was really surprised how many people went after Draymond and defended me. I’m not sensitive at all because I say stuff about players. I hope they’re not sensitive because if I say it, I believe it, that don’t mean I’m always right. So that didn’t even faze me whatsoever. I can take it as much as I can dish it out.”
Charles Barkley added that he was too busy drinking tequila with Draymond Green to worry about any potential feud between the pair over the comments. But although he may not have fought back with ferocity the way his fans and supporters would have wished, he did once again deliver a sly message to his TNT/ESPN co-worker that their two resumes as players are not the same.
“Draymond is a good player. I was a great player. I don’t go back and forth trying to defend; he’s a very good player, but we’re not on the same level,” Barkley affirmed.
If there’s one thing you can say that distinguishes Draymond Green and Charles Barkley, it’s that one is chronically online and constantly involved in all sorts of drama while the other blissfully exists in his own universe and couldn’t care less about it. Maybe that’s a major reason why Barkley has been one of the most popular sports personalities for years, while Green is one of the most polarizing.
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