Charles Barkley has become one of the most popular and well-liked sports media personalities across the NBA and sports in general in recent years. Most of that is due to him being a direct contrast to the modern cliche talking head.
Barkley is honest to a fault, never one to hold back his thoughts on a player, game, team or situation. He presents a different type of voice to the media landscape that, more often than not, is welcomed.
However, as a nature of his unfiltered approach, when he misses the mark, he really misses the mark.
His criticisms of modern-day players are aplenty. For every instance of a player being perhaps deservingly called out for a bad game, there’s an example of Barkley taking the role of the old veteran being petty or jealous of players in the league today. Often, it’s big men who come under fire. Players like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert are common targets of these often-unfair critiques.
On Wednesday, Barkley appeared on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” to talk a whole host of things, eventually landing on the topic of Caitlin Clark and the WNBA toward the end of his discussion.
Never one to have a half-hearted thought on a matter, Barkley unleashed on the WNBA for how badly he feels it mishandled Clark’s integration into the league.
“These ladies, and I’m a WNBA fan, they can not have f—— this Caitlin Clark thing up any worse if they tried. If you got people in a room — if you got a bunch of dudes in a room and said ‘Let’s f— up the WNBA,’ we couldn’t of came up with a master plan that these women have done. This girl is incredible. What she did in college for women’s basketball, what she’s doing in the WNBA… the number of eyeballs she’s brought to college and the pros, for these women to have this petty jealousness, you said it yourself, ‘Damn, what is going on here?’”
Geez, Charles. You’re so close to the actual point here. You just don’t know it.
Could you imagine having veterans who helped build a game harshly criticizing young players entering the league? Not giving them the credit they deserve? Coming across as petty and jealous?
Surely that type of thing wouldn’t happen in the NBA.
Part of the irony of Barkley’s comments — and there are multiple layers of irony — is he spent the segment before talking about the need to be objective and not let personal feelings get in the way as a commentator.
Barkley is many things, but objective is not one of them. It’s part of what has made him popular.
Caitlin Clark’s integration into the WNBA has not been a seamless one. Despite bringing a level of attention and notoriety to the WNBA the league has never seen, she has not been a universally beloved figure in women’s basketball or the WNBA.
Nor should that be any kind of expectation. You don’t have to like Caitlin Clark. You probably should acknowledge what she’s done for the game, but outside of that, feel whatever you want to feel about her, right or wrong.
And even if there are players or coaches or former players or media personalities or whoever who may not like her, it has, in no way, messed anything up for the league. In fact, it’s hard to really even know what Barkley is referencing, especially considering he didn’t give any sort of specifics.
Is he referencing Sheryl Swoopes, who has come under increasing scrutiny for her ongoing unwillingness to give Caitlin Clark her just due? Or he could be referencing the five flagrant fouls Clark has been on the receiving end of this season?
Neither instance has seemingly done anything to detract from Clark’s accomplishments and the W’s growth, if either one of them is even what Barkley is referencing.
The league just inked — in the words of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert — a “monumental” TV deal this summer, one that will pay out $2.2 billion over the next 11 years. There are more eyes than ever on the product, whether that’s measured in TV viewers or social media impressions or anything in between. Swoopes, hard fouls or whatever else Barkley is referring to hasn’t “f—– up’ the WNBA.
The league is moving forward at a rapid rate and Caitlin Clark is one of many players leading the way. The implication that she is the sole reason for that success, or that the league is mishandling her in some way, is just wildly incorrect.
The league has put Clark front and center — probably too much at times, and certainly so at the beginning of the season — to immediately make her a face of the league, whether it was on national TV games or through promoting her and the Fever from the jump this season. They bet on her being a star and when that hit, they’re now reaping the rewards.
More people are talking about the WNBA than ever before to go along with the increased attention coming their way. Is that mishandling the situation?
There was a whole Olympics roster of women that did not include Caitlin Clark who deserve praise and credit for pushing the league forward, too.
And even if there are some loud veterans or former players not welcoming Clark into the league with open arms, that’s not something unique to the WNBA.
When Lonzo Ball, who, like Clark, entered the NBA as a top pick and highly-touted prospect, debuted for the Lakers in 2017, he was met by Patrick Beverley, who welcomed the guard to the league with plenty of physicality in his debut. The conversations then were simply about Lonzo getting his “Welcome to the NBA” moment and little more.
There shouldn’t be an expectation of players welcoming rookies to the league. This is a competitive sport featuring the top athletes in the world at their craft. They’re going to force a player like Clark to prove she’s worthy of all the credit and praise, and she eventually did just that.
Charles Barkley, of all people, should not be the one chastising people for not welcoming a new crop of players with open arms. On this same podcast where he criticized the WNBA’s handling of Clark’s debut campaign, he also spent a big chunk of time complaining about NBA players over load management, and lamenting how much easier they have it than his generation did.
Ultimately, Barkley is close to making a good point about how pettiness and jealousy can take away from something special. He just doesn’t realize he’s talking to himself, too.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
