It shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise that Charles Barkley is doubling down on his Caitlin Clark takes.
A few weeks ago, Chuck looked into the cameras on Inside the NBA and implored Clark’s so-called haters to “stop being petty.”
Here’s more of what Barkley had to say at the time via Awful Announcing’s Michael Dixon:
“You women out there, ya’ll petty, man,” Barkley said. “Hey, LeBron, you’re 100% right on these girls hating on Caitlin Clark. Ya’ll petty, girls. I expect men to be petty, because we’re the most insecure group in the world, Y’all should be thanking that girl for getting y’all *** private charters, all the money and visibility she’s bringing to the WNBA. Don’t be petty like dudes.
“Listen, what she’s accomplished, give her her flowers. Stop being petty, all you women out there. She got y’all *** charters. She’s bringing all y’all this money to the table but y’all being petty like dudes. LeBron, you are 100% right. Y’all girls, Stop being petty. Caitlin Clark, thank you for bringing all that money and shine to the WNBA.”
"You women out there, ya'll petty, man. Hey, LeBron, you're 100% right on these girls hating on Caitlin Clark. Ya'll petty, girls. I expect men to be petty, because we're the most insecure group in the world… Don't be petty like dudes…" – Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/4MLW2PHzHl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2024
Since then, the Chennedy Carter incident, in which the Chicago Sky guard was called for a flagrant foul for a non-basketball move on Clark, has caused an uproar in discourse.
Adding fuel to the fire, Barkley, who is now on his fourth month-long vacation, hasn’t had a platform to comment. However, he didn’t hesitate to voice his strong opinions during an appearance on Doug Bell’s podcast, The Ole Gabbox.
“Petty jealousy and it’s really unfortunate because of what she’s done for the game,” Barkley said when asked what he’d call what Clark’s currently experiencing. “You know, listen, I believe in rookie hazing, but some of the criticism has gone overboard, and I think it’s really unfair because, man, you look at the ratings for the draft, the WNBA — she’s making everybody money. And I think she’s got some deals, good for her.
“I mean, the girl set the record for the most points ever scored in college. I mean, that’s pretty incredible. But the girls got to grow up and like, ‘Yo, you know what? I can go at her hard on the basketball court, but the visibility and stuff she’s bringing to the league is only going to fill all our wallets up in the long run.’ It’s just petty jealousy, and it’s really unfortunate.
“And the thing that’s really bad right now is we’re not even talking about basketball. That’s the problem that I have with the whole thing. And listen, we knew she was gonna struggle. Kobe Bryant struggled. Charles Barkley struggled. Every rookie struggles.
“There’s a reason they had the No. 1 pick in the draft; the team’s not very good. But what’s bad is instead of talking about all the good things happening for the WNBA, we’re talking about negativity. There used to be the old saying, ‘All publicity is good publicity,’ no it’s not. Not when you’re a niche sport trying to get the consumers to buy into your product.”
Barkley said he likes the way that Clark is handling it, as she really hasn’t said a word.
“Because you got so many fools out where who got opinions, unfortunately, negative opinions on television, on radio and things like that,” he added. “So, I’m glad she’s staying above the fray.”
