Charles Barkley often expresses skepticism when NBA players claim they could have been successful in the NFL. In fact, he always laughs when some of these guys — including LeBron James — talk about how they could’ve chosen to play football instead.
While Sir Charles admires LeBron, the NBA on TNT analyst believes most basketball players overestimate their ability to handle the physicality and skill level of professional football. And he expressed as such during an appearance on Inside the NFL on Tuesday.
“I love LeBron as a person,” said Barkley, “but the notion that basketball players can play football, like yeah, they could play in high school ’cause they were bigger than everybody else, faster than everybody else. But, most of these guys never really played in college ’cause that’s when you really see how good you are when you go to college. And if you’re lucky enough to get to the pros, that’s the creme de la creme — that’s the top of the line.
“But I love these basketball players talking about, ‘Well, I was good back then.’ I’m like, Dude, you can’t play football. These are grown men out here; they’ll kill you.”
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And Barkley would know. The Hall of Famer shared that he played football for one day and found it to be too physically demanding, leading him to walk away after one grueling practice.
“It wasn’t my cup of tea, man,” Barley said. “They put me on the defensive line and I ran into a guy full speed for like two and a half hours. I was like, ‘There’s zero talent in this thing right here.’ And I remember the last thing the coach said to me was, ‘I’ll see y’all tomorrow. I was like, ‘Yo, I’m not doing this **** tomorrow.'”
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More than just a scorer, Barkley’s NBA impact stretched beyond points. He earned 11 All-Star appearances, 5 First Team All-NBA selections, and even the coveted MVP title (1993). His rebounding prowess peaked with a league-leading season (1987), and he retired in 2000, boasting a well-rounded stat sheet with over 23,000 points, 12,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists.
Seems like he made the right choice.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.