Charles Barkely didn’t mince words when speaking on Charles Oakley’s arrest
Charles Barkley can be a bit of a knucklehead sometimes. He’s known for speaking his mind no matter the topic whether positive, or negative, and has a tendency to rub people the wrong way at times. He is still against the analytics movement that has largely taken over the NBA and many of his basketball opinions seem to be stuck in old ways. However, what he had to say about Charles Oakley’s arrest last night in Madison Square Garden was surprisingly insightful. Not only surprising because of his sometimes antagonistic nature, but surprising because he was so well known for getting in fights as a player.
“There was no winners. We all are losers. Our job, we get paid to promote the NBA. The Knicks are an awful basketball team. They have been disrespectful to Carmelo Anthony, but this was a black eye for the entire sport.”
Charles Barkley on last night's incident with Charles Oakley at MSG. pic.twitter.com/qta2fzUWus
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 10, 2017
The incident last night has raised a lot of opinions, but not many have been about how this looks on the league itself. Barkley was a player that came up in the league when fights were the norm and something like this happening wasn’t just a rarity, but almost expected to take place. Coincidentally those games frequently involved Oakley or Barkley. In that sense, Barkley isn’t exactly wrong. Having an ambassador of the game getting thrown out of his former team’s arena, and then being arrested, is not a good look on the NBA. However, from the majority of reports, what caused this incident is less about Oakley and more about New York Knicks owner James Dolan.
Oakley was trying to attend a game, with a ticket he bought, and Dolan wanted to remove him for merely attending. If anything is a blackmark on the NBA it’s that James Dolan is still allowed to own of their 30 franchises.