The final playoff series for the NBA on TNT should be a doozy if Charles Barkley is already dropping F-bombs in the first game.
With Warner Bros. Discovery losing NBA rights for TNT Sports, the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers will be their swan song. And Barkley kicked the series off with a bang by dropping a hot mic F-bomb about 30 minutes before Game 1 tipped off.
Shortly after being named league MVP, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander joined Inside the NBA. And as host Ernie Johnson was trying to give the voting results, Barkley was hellbent on sharing his outrage after learning SGA’s teammate Lu Dort hasn’t made an all-defensive team in his career.
“Lu Dort has never made an all-defensive team?” Barkley asked SGA. “When I saw that stat, I said, this dude ain’t never made an all-defensive team?’ That’s one of the worst stats I’ve ever seen.”
SGA humbly took time out of his MVP celebration to agree echo Barkley’s sentiment that Dort deserves more recognition for his defensive prowess. But as Inside the NBA said goodbye to SGA and broke for commercial, Barkley could still be heard ranting about Dort.
“Can you believe that he never made a defensive team?” Barkley asked again.
“I can’t believe you were trying to wedge that in when I’m trying to tell him what the vote was for MVP,” Johnson said, seemingly unaware they still had live mics.
And in case there was any doubt about whether they knew their mics were hot, Barkley cleared that up with an f-bomb.
“I can’t believe,” Barkley ranted. “That tells you these guys who vote don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing.”
It wasn’t as ear-catching as the F-bomb, but getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Johnson scolding Charles Barkley for his poorly timed defense of Dort may have been more entertaining than the profanity. Although it’s the accidental F-bomb on live TV that’s always the bigger no-no. But as Barkley noted throughout their final season on TNT, they can’t fire him. And if they couldn’t fire him during the season, they’re certainly not going to fire him in their final days on-air. Let them fly, Chuck.