Richard Jefferson obliterates Charles Barkley’s hypocritical LeBron James criticism

As Charles Barkley faults LeBron James for some of the NBA’s problems, Richard Jefferson suggests taking a look in the mirror.

Barkley recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast where he blamed James and the current generation of NBA players for causing the league to create second apron rules. The second apron is a list of penalties that are triggered when a team crosses a spending threshold.

According to Barkley, it exists because of LeBron and other stars wanting to team up with each other. To that, Jefferson reminds Barkley that he did the same thing by teaming up with Hakeem Olajuwon and Scottie Pippen with the Houston Rockets at the end of his career.

“When we look at teaming up, he did it! He joined Olajuwon. And then Scottie Pippen came in,” Jefferson said while also citing Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining the Los Angeles Lakers to play with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. “Did we forget our history? His own history! And I love Charles! Charles is my icon, my idol, my big bro. There’s not a person in this industry that I f***ing love more. But Charles, let’s be honest, you literally joined a team with Hakeem Olajuwon because he had won two championships. Wow, that sounds like LeBron going to join D-Wade. And then you brought in Scottie Pippen! Man, that sounds like Chris Bosh joining…why do we always make it seem like LeBron is the first person to join up in NBA history?

“We’re blaming everything on LeBron right, wrong, ugly, that’s fine, we’re cool, that’s a different story,” Jefferson continued. “But Charles joined the Houston Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon and then they went and recruited Scottie Pippen…so how are we just gonna now all of a sudden forget all of our NBA history…So, no, the second apron doesn’t exist because LeBron and guys wanted to stop competing. Why did Charles go to Houston? Or maybe he’s telling us he didn’t want to compete. Come on, Charles.”

Barkley is one of the NBA’s best ambassadors because he’s almost unanimously beloved by fans. But Barkley can also be one of the NBA’s worst ambassadors at times because he often portrays the mindset that the past NBA was better than the present, and the present is ruining the future.

If Barkley wants to complain about load management or the modern-NBA’s style of play, that’s fine. But Jefferson is right, Barkley can’t complain about stars wanting to create superteams, because he did it himself.