SI

Charles Barkley Has Had Enough of Everyone Talking About the Lakers

Also in Traina Thoughts: Dan Campbell shares hilarious story; Draymond Green vs. fan; the embarrassment of unreturned DMs; and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Charles Barkley isn’t afraid to bite the hand that feeds him, so he had no problem calling out the NBA and his own network for constantly showing Lakers games despite the fact that the team is 11–16 this season.

With Los Angeles trailing Boston 65–50 at halftime last night, Ernie Johnson asked Barkley to sum up the first half.

“The Lakers stink,” said Barkley. “They’re forcing us to show them all the time like they’re gonna be good.”

Barkley clarified that he was referring to the NBA. “It’s a conspiracy,” Barkley continued. “And then we got all these clowns on television who have to talk about them every day. It’s a conspiracy. Like, we have to talk about the Lakers. The Lakers are awful.”

Barley then made the point that the Lakers are currently the 12th seed in the West and that the show never talks about the 12th seed in the East.

“What’s the 12-seed in the East?,” Barkley asked. “We don’t ever talk about the Washington Wizards, do we? Ever? Do we ever mention the Washington Wizards and the great Bradley Beal? No. But for some reason, these morning talk shows and us, we have to show the Lakers all the time. The Lakers stink.”

But here’s what makes Inside the NBA so great. After Chuck got worked up about the Lakers, the hosts had this exchange:

Johnson to Barkley: “Easy, it’s the last time you’re gonna see them this year.”

A very excited Barkley: “NO WAY.”

Kenny Smith, “This year. This is December.”

Shaq: “Ya big dummy.”

Barkley: “Well played, Ernie.”

Perfect television.

2. I wrote about the beautiful reception by Lions offensive lineman Penei Sewell in Monday’s “Traina Thoughts.”

Detroit coach Dan Campbell revealed on Tuesday's Pat McAfee Show that he had no idea the play was happening. Campbell said he was paying attention to the wave when his offensive coordinator asked him whether he wanted to use the Sewell play. 

3. Draymond Green and a Bucks fan appeared to be talking trash to each other during Tuesday's Golden State–Milwaukee game.

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Green then had the fan ejected from the game.

After the game, Green said the fan threatened his life.

Never a dull moment with Draymond.

4. As someone who has embarrassingly sent may unreturned DMs to a variety of athletes, I can’t tell you how much I related to this clip. Hey, Baker, throw a reply to Kyle Brandt already! 

5. Here’s what I can't wrap my brain around when it comes to Buffalo sports columnist Jerry Sullivan getting fired this week for making sexist remarks on a podcast.

He literally said, "It’s a dangerous avenue to go down to criticize women in general because they’re better than men generally, but … they don’t get it as fans.”

Then he proceeded to say, “Women, be better than this! Because the worst fans really are the women. They don’t get critical journalism. They all want to be cheerleaders.”

So, he knew it was a dangerous avenue, yet still proceeded to make the offensive and unbelievably dumb remarks anyway! The stupidity is just staggering.

6. A brand-new SI Media Podcast dropped this morning, and this week’s guest is The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Richard Deitsch. Topics covered include:

  • Fox's World Cup coverage
  • Jon Heyman whiffing on Aaron Judge
  • Adam Schefter doing PR for Deshaun Watson
  • Is TNF on Amazon a success?
  • Athletes as podcasters
  • Good Morning America scandal
  • ManningCast

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Someone asked me the other day whether I remember the first YouTube video I ever watched. Who the hell can remember something like that? But I do know that this was probably the first “viral” video I remember enjoying.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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