There was good news and bad news after Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith unexpectedly raced to the video board Thursday night on Inside the NBA.
Barkley won the race, beating his colleague up the steps to the board by a split second. The good news is, no one strained a hamstring or worse.
The bad news, at least for Smith, is his colleagues roasted him for losing, poking fun at him as they watched a slow-motion replay.
Host Ernie Johnson mentioned Atlanta Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. That meant some Risacher highlights were in order, and Barkley and Smith leaped from their seats to sprint to the video board.
Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal reacted by exclaiming “Ohhhhhhhhh!” Johnson met Barkley with a high-five and Shaq hugged him.
“I can’t wait for that replay!” Johnson said. “Did you see that wobble from the Chuckster? That was awesome.”
Meanwhile, Smith stood by the video board trying to catch his breath. It’s not 1985 or even 2005 anymore, and both Barkley (61) and Smith (59) showed their age as they sprinted to the board.
“I couldn’t stop laughing,” Smith said.
The fun had just gotten started. As Johnson promised, a replay appeared (you can always count on that when someone does something embarrassing on the show).
“That gets funnier every time we look at it,” Johnson said.
“Everybody loves seeing you lose, Kenny … You literally got your ass whooped,” Barkley boasted.
Smith offered an excuse.
“First of all, my pants were going to fall down, they really were,” Smith said. The replay paused on the moment his shirt and jacket flew up and his pants seemed on the brink of failing him.
Smith has done better in these impromptu Inside the NBA sprints before. He raced O’Neal to the video board in 2022 and won, but only because he shoved Shaq into a huge Christmas tree on the set.
KENNY LAUNCHED SHAQ INTO THE TREE 🎄💀 pic.twitter.com/WBltT8jflx
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 7, 2022
“If there was a Christmas tree here, you’d have fallen right into it,” Smith joked to Barkley on Thursday’s show.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.