Charles Barkley destroys Kyrie Irving in a hilarious rant

As the days go by, Kyrie Irving continues to draw attention around the NBA community for the wrong reasons. Despite being one of the most skilled players ever, it seems like his attitude and desire to be in the spotlight has made a lot of people ignore just how good he is at basketball.

Kyrie Irving’s words constantly rub people the wrong way. It’s not just what he says – which often doesn’t make any sense – but how he says it. The way he’s handled the media has been just arrogant, to say the least.

That’s why former NBA player Charles Barkley had some pretty harsh words about him and his constant antics, including refusing to talk to the media and calling them ‘pawns’, just to backpedal yet again.

Charles Barkley Blasts Kyrie Irving For His Never-Ending Antics

In an interview with ESPN Radio, the former Phoenix Suns superstar blasted Irving’s attitude towards the media. According to Chuck, he should stop acting smart and talk to the media because no one’s buying his act right now.

(Transcript via Fadeaway World):

“I’m not sure what he’s doing. I don’t like it. You know, they don’t pay you $40 million dollars just to play basketball. Part of it is sitting down with you guys, sitting down with me and Kenny [Smith] and Ernie [Johnson] and [Shaquille O’Neal], talking to New York reporters. Talking with the media is part of your professional obligation. And you can say what you want to say. But these guys today, they’re different. I don’t hate on them, but I’m not sure what point Kyrie is trying to make.

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And when he talks I’m like ‘what the hell is he trying… what is he saying and what is he trying to say?’ He starts talking about what an artist is. He’s a basketball player. That’s what he is. Listen, we’re not… we’re not frontline responders. We’re not teachers. Yo man, you dribble a basketball, stop acting like you’re the smartest person in the world.

Now can you talk about social issues and things like that? Of course. But some of this other stuff I’m like ‘yo man, you do realize you’re just a basketball player, right?’ And it seems like he’s like ‘no I want you guys to realize I’m the smartest guy in the room.’ Well first of all, you’re not. You only went to college for six months. A lot of guys are smarter than you are. Just answer stupid basketball questions. And if you want to say something about social justice, say it and mean it, because it’s important and significant. But all that other stuff? Like, yo man, shut the hell up and talk basketball.”

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Barkley sure has a point here. There are countless players around the league actually standing up for social issues rather than just playing the woke game. Take LeBron James and Jaylen Brown for example. Irving, on the other hand, has spent more time calling out the media, mainstream people, and even his current and former teammates rather than backing up his talking.

At the end of the day, he always backpedals his comments and claims he’s misunderstood, we’ve seen that over and over. Hopefully, he’ll focus solely on basketball next season, as he’s by far one of the best players in the league.