Charles Barkley was a superstar on the basketball court during his career in the NBA, and he's since become a regular outspoken presence on TNT's NBA coverage. He might as well book a Netflix stand-up special soon, because he hilariously went a tad more off the books than normal during Thursday night's coverage for Inside the NBA. In particular, he railed on an ad promoting the NBA's subscription-based League Pass, as the $6.99 price for a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks was deemed "highway robbery" and then some. Check it out!
Even if you haven't been paying attention to the NBA this season (or in the past couple), the message should be pret-ty clear here: nobody at that Inside the NBA desk, least of all Charles Barkley, wants to shell out seven bucks to watch a basketball game between two teams who aren't exactly piling on the wins this season. The Bucks' record is currently 22-29, for a 43% win percentage, while the Lakers are even worse with a record of 18-37, with a non-snazzy win percentage of 32%. Perhaps Barkley would have been willing to pay 32% of the $6.99 surcharge for the game through League Pass.
I have to assume Charles Barkley's face was immediately turnt up, as the ad-speak wasn't even finished before the laughs started and the NBA vet began bemoaning the $6.99 fee. He got everybody going, too. Especially when he uttered this line that shattered the doors on political correctness and made Ernie Johnson look like he wanted to hide behind Shaquille O'Neal.
I ain't seen nothing like that since we stole everything from the Indians back in the day.
Goodness gracious, Charles Barkley. You eat arena nachos with that mouth? What's even more ridiculous is that Barkley and the others are saying these things about an NBA game that they're supposed to be promoting, during a program put together with NBA money. Crazier things have happened, I guess. Like people paying 7 dollars for that game. Boom! Put me on the Inside the NBA desk.
In the clip's commotion, Kenny Smith kept trying to dissuade Charles Barkley from talking by saying the $6.99 price was for the whole season, which is most definitely not true, as a full season of League Pass is upwards of $199, depending on when you sign up. Individual games can absolutely be viewed for the $6.99 price advertised there, as steep as it may seem in this case. So not only is Barkley ragging on the service, but Smith is attempting to share misinformation about it. Anything to keep from watching it. That said, you know he would pay that kinda money on the regular to watch his quasi-rival Charles Oakley get ejected from games.
If you're not into watching NBA games in the coming months, head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows will be around.
