Charles Barkley is a great television personality, but his basketball analysis pretty consistently makes you scratch your head.
We’ve covered his history of egregiously bad opinions and his tendency to say provocative things seemingly without thinking them through. And on Thursday, Barkley submitted an opinion that heads right to his own personal Hot Take Hall of Fame.
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Smith: Wait, timeout. You’ve got Klay Thompson over Steph Curry?
Barkley: He’s a better all-around player.
Smith: So ok, timeout. You’re starting a franchise, which one you gonna take?
Barkley: Well—
Smith: Well nothing. Which one you going to take?
Barkley: I’m telling you, Steph Curry is a great player, but Klay Thompson is the best two-way guard in the entire NBA. We’re not picking All-Stars—
Smith: No, we’re picking the best players.
This back and forth then went on for a while. Here’s the clip:
For the record, there is really no way to argue Klay is better than Steph. Not by advanced stats, not by traditional stats, not by MVP results, not by how much attention opposing teams pay them. It’s just a crazy opinion.
Thing is, we can be pretty sure Barkley isn’t just spewing an absurd opinion for provocation’s sake. He gets plenty of attention as it is, and we know he doesn’t care about trending on Twitter or anything like that. He really, sincerely believes the sometimes-absurd stuff he says.
At least we know Charles isn’t trying to suck up to the league’s biggest stars. Between his ongoing feud with LeBron James and his apparent believe that Steph isn’t a top-six player, he’s not making friends with any superstars lately.
