Charles Barkley is coming through with the hottest of hot takes.
The hall of fame NBA player recently ranked his top NBA players of all-time in a recent interview with University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari.
Barkley listed Michael Jordan as No. 1, but then listed Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in no particular order.
He then added that Kobe Bryant was No. 6 and LeBron James was No. 7.
Barkley stated that he did not think James would match up well against the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“I do think the way they play the game today, [James] didn’t want any part of those ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons,” Barkley said on Calipari’s Facebook show “Coffee with Cal.'” “Those guys were out there trying to hurt people. I used to always tell people that when you play the Pistons, you gotta call your family and tell them you love them just in case you never saw them again.”
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After losing to the Pistons in three-straight playoff series, Jordan and the Bulls decided to hit the weight room, with the Great one gaining 15 pounds of muscle over the summer of 1990. It paid off and the Bulls swept the Pistons in their next playoff meeting.
“I was getting brutally beaten up,” Jordan said in episode four of the documentary series. “And I wanted to administer pain. I wanted to start fighting back.”
