Charles Barkley has repeatedly reminded us TNT Sports can’t fire him this year, but even he still has his own limits on what he’s willing to say.
Inside the NBA went around the league after their Tuesday night slate of games and the highlight reel included Gradey Dick scoring 32 points as the Toronto Raptors lost to the Milwaukee Bucks. Charles Barkley heard the name “Dick” at 1:30 a.m. ET after being on-air for nearly seven hours, and you can probably guess the rest.
Shaq almost didn’t make it 🤣 pic.twitter.com/E7CaT8OHxO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 13, 2024
“This boy balling right here, y’all,” Barkley said, leaving Ernie Johnson to say, “Gradey Dick.”
“Oh I can’t say his name,” Barkley insisted, causing Shaquille O’Neal to lose it in a fit of laughter. “I just can’t say his name. I’m not gonna say his name, I don’t give a damn what y’all say around here. I’m not gonna say that to another man. I don’t care what y’all say. His name is Gradey. Gradey. I’m not gonna say that man’s last name. I don’t care what y’all say around here. I’m not gonna call another man that, Shaq.”
There was a point there where it sounded like we were on the verge of losing Shaq. Thankfully, he pulled through to survive the uncontrollable laughter. Barkley, however, still refused to say “Dick.”
“It’s like we stepped back into middle school,” Johnson added.
It’s not just Barkley and Shaq. New Orleans Pelicans analyst Antonio Daniels couldn’t handle “Dick” on the broadcast last season, begging play-by-play voice Joel Meyers to just call him “Gradey.” Because, you know, saying “Dick” is hard. As Johnson noted, you can take the boy out of middle school, but you can’t take the middle school out of the boy.
