Charles Barkley laughed off LeBron James’ criticism Tuesday, mocking the whole thing by saying that LBJ had Googled the Hall of Famer and “found out some things.”
Barkley: "Clearly he Googled me and found out some things." Barkley says his initial criticism was "fair."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 31, 2017
Sir Charles isn’t interested in befriending current players; he’s paid to offer criticism, whether they like it or not:
“I’ve only met LeBron casually. He’s always been great to me. I think I’ve been great and cordial to him. But this notion that we have to be friends, we’re never going to be friends.”
As for Dwyane Wade sticking up for his good buddy, Barkley says Wade has enough problems trying to win games with the struggling Chicago Bulls.
Barkley on Wade saying he had to humble himself: "He's humbled, playing for that team."
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 31, 2017
Per ESPN:
“I stick by what I said, I’m not going to make this personal … he was all whiny last week,” Barkley said. “… I’m good and I’m straightforward, I’m never going to get personal on an NBA player.”
When asked Tuesday if he felt James crossed the line, Barkley said it was a case of shooting the messenger and that he had no issues with James’ remarks.
“I was laughing, clearly he did some homework … he Googled me and found some things,” Barkley said. “He was young when I was playing, so I appreciate that, but I’m not upset about it … my criticism was fair and I’m good with that. […] Some of the stuff he said about me is correct — doesn’t make the message I said about him incorrect. Some of them are intimidated about LeBron [but] I’m not intimidated at all.”
