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Charles Barkley Had Strong Take on Victor Wembanyama, NBA 'Face of the League' Talk

Kristen Wong

Screengrab on Twitter/ @NBAonTNT
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The times are changing in the NBA. The last two NBA Finals noticeably lacked marquee names like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry as younger stars like Jayson Tatum and Luka Doncic are starting to exert their dominance and take hold of the league. 

With the inevitable changing of the guard, some veteran players have been asked for their thoughts on who will be the next bright-eyed face of the league, with San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama arguably leading the pack.

TNT analyst Charles Barkley was the latest to weigh in on the discussion and had a bone to pick about the way the “face of the league” title was being passed around.

“Kevin Durant was talking about Wemby being the face of the league—first of all, you don’t give anybody the face of the league. Am I right, Shaq?” Barkley said. “When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came in, they were like, ‘We’re the new sheriffs in town.’ Shaq took it, Kobe took it, LeBron took it, Steph took it. I get so annoyed when I hear these guys—like you don’t give somebody [that]... You don’t give anybody the face of the game. You take it.”

Shaq agreed with Barkley and chimed in too, advocating for the NBA’s young bucks to be more aggressive rather than wait for things to be handed to them.

“They, whoever they will be, they will try to put somebody as the face of the league,” Shaq said. “But you have to go take it. Ja Morant’s thinking something different, Luka’s thinking something different. Ant-man is thinking something different.”

Wembanyama was making a strong case to win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award this season at just 21 years old until he was diagnosed with season-ending deep vein thrombosis. His lofty pursuits will have to be put on hold for the time being, allowing the league’s other young stars to gain some ground in the hypothetical publicity race.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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