Charles Barkley mocks Shaquille O’Neal’s bold Joel Embiid prediction

LeBron James being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers has Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal giving conflicting takes about Joel Embiid.

O’Neal joined Stephen A. Smith on his SiriusXM Radio show this week where he reacted to the LeBron trade by labeling Embiid the biggest winner. According to O’Neal, the 32-year-old Embiid who hasn’t played more than 40 games since the 2022-23 season is about to emerge as the best big man in the NBA.

Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show Tuesday morning where he learned about O’Neal’s bold declaration and offered a strong response of his own.

“Well, what is somebody going to kill the Joker?” Barkley asked. “Somebody better kill the Joker right now. Listen, I think the two winners of this trade are [Tyrese] Maxey and Embiid. Because they’re a better team and Joel, he’s got to be the fourth best player. Maxey and [Jaylen] Brown are the two best players, LeBron’s the third best player if he’s healthy.”

Barkley explained Embiid should just focus on staying healthy, adding he needs to concentrate on defense and rebounding because the often-embattled center will be asked to sacrifice more offense than anyone else on the 76ers. Unfortunately for the 76ers, Embiid’s defense and rebounding have regressed more than his offense amid his recent injuries.

Shaq thinks Embiid is about to make a run at winning MVP, Barkley think he’s being relegated to fourth option on the 76ers. Can’t get much different than that, and it’s hard to imagine Shaq being right on this one. Seven-footers with long injury histories don’t magically return to MVP-form in their 30s. That’s not to say Embiid can’t be an All-Star playing alongside LeBron, Brown and Maxey. But he’s not about to make people forget about Nikola Jokić as the best center in the game.