The NFL season and the Super Bowl may be over, but that doesn’t mean other sports aren’t still going on. The NBA has been in decline for some time due to a lack of star power and the unrelenting virtue-signaling by the league, but the sport still has a fan base, and a few folks still tune in on occasion. One of those occasions is the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities.
While the league has taken great pains to appeal to all demographics, even to the detriment of its ratings, there are still a few personalities that are willing to say whatever is on their mind and bring some humor, even if it offends certain persons. Charles Barkley is one of those people.
Barkley has never been a fan of crumbling San Francisco and, during the broadcast Sunday night, took advantage of the moment to poke more fun at next season’s All-Star game location. The NBA Hall of Famer was hosting an alternate broadcast of the game with Draymond Green and TNT personality Taylor Rooks, and when Green suggested the NBA might not come back to Indianapolis due to the weather, Sir Charles decided to take shots at next season’s host, San Francisco.
The outspoken Barkley said to Reggie Miller, who was announcing the game on another alternative feed, “Hey Reggie, if you had a chance to be in cold or be around a bunch of homeless crooks in San Francisco…” Green, perhaps sensing where Barkley was going, cut him off and said, “Oh, that’s crazy!” Rooks then jumped in and said, “We love San Francisco.”
Barkley, who has never been a fan of the Northern California city, said, “No, we don’t. You can’t even walk around down there.” Green immediately pushed back, saying, “Yes, you can walk around,” to which Barkley savagely retorted, “Yeah, with a bulletproof vest.” Barkley is no stranger to criticism when it comes to San Francisco.
Watch him here:
During a freak rain delay during Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas in 2022, Barkley mentioned that it should be raining in San Francisco. He hilariously remarked: “The bad thing about all this rain, it’s not raining in San Francisco to clean up those dirty-ass streets they got there. San Francisco, it’s a great city, but all that dirtiness and homelessness, y’all gotta clean that off the streets.”
The criticism didn’t completely resonate, however. Someone named Danny Taplan, who doesn’t live in the city but works there, said he likes Sir Charles, but he doesn’t want him to come to the city anymore. He said: “San Francisco’s not like that.” By all accounts, San Francisco is like that despite the protestations of locals. Ron DeSantis famously displayed a map of human excrement on San Francisco’s streets during his debate with California Governor Gavin Newsom.
NBA fans count on Charles Barkley to give unfiltered takes and be honest in any situation. While this strategy might fly in the face of wokeness, Charles doesn’t care. That is what keeps him relevant and makes him one of the most-loved personalities in all of sports.
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