Nickeil Alexander-Walker takes issue with Charles Barkley mocking his name

To Charles Barkley and Inside the NBA, it was just a joke, but Nickeil Alexander-Walker didn’t appreciate having his name mocked on national television.

Last week, Barkley was discussing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s cousin, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and settled for “whatever his name is” after struggling to say Nickeil Alexander-Walker. After Draymond Green asked him to try saying Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s name again, Barkley joked, “Nickel? What is it?”

“Is his real name Nickeil?” Barkley asked. “Boy, somebody just made up some stuff again. Nickeil is not a name. They named him after a coin—they just spelled it wrong.”

Later, Alexander-Walker was asked about it during a press conference and he laughed off Barkley’s blunder, saying he assumed media members were given phonetic spellings of names to avoid any mistakes. But more recently, Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson asked Alexander-Walker about Barkley mispronouncing his name, and the Timberwolves guard didn’t seem enthused.

“Honestly, I felt a little slighted at first,” Alexander-Walker told Scoop. “It was a little disrespectful because I take pride in who I am, and my name is part of my identity. Knowing that it was given to me from people who I care about a lot, means a lot.”

“My mom’s name is Nicole and my dad’s name is Nicholas,” Alexander-Walker explained. “My mom originally wanted to name me Khalil; she had a friend who had a baby named Khalil maybe a year or a couple months before I was born, and so, my grandmother just named me Nickeil. And you know, my grandmother’s very close in my life.”

Despite being the most popular analyst in the NBA, Barkley has made a habit out of mispronouncing and forgetting players names throughout his tenure on TNT. He even previously called Shai Gilgeous-Alexander “Shai Alexander-Gilchrest.” So butchering Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s name is nothing new and it’s not intended to be personal. But when a name holds meaning, that individual player isn’t going to appreciate the bit.