LeBron James already was in a bad mood after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the lowly Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.
Then someone asked him about Charles Barkley.
“He’s a hater,” James told ESPN.com. “What makes what he says credible? Because he’s on TV?”
James was referring to the comments Barkley made last week when the Basketball Hall of Famer and TNT analyst called the Cavs star “whiny” for openly complaining about Cleveland’s failure to give him a better supporting cast.
But it turns out James was just getting started on Barkley.
“I’m not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that,” James said. “I’m not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, ‘I’m not a role model.’ I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.
“All I’ve done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that.”
James appeared to be releasing a whole lot of pent-up frustration, derived both from Barkley, who has needled LeBron on several occasions, and from the Cavs’ recent struggles. The perennial All-Star even challenged Barkley to meet him face-to-face.
“I know he wanted to retire a long time ago, but he can’t,” James said. “He’s stuck up on that stage every week. … And if this makes him want to talk to me, the schedule’s out there. He knows every road arena I’ll be in. Don’t just come up to me at (the) All-Star (Game) and shake my hand and smile.”
It was a surprising outburst from James, even by his standards. But Barkley’s words clearly put him over the edge.
“”I collect one paycheck from this,” James said about his role with Cleveland. “There’s the owner, (David Griffin is) the GM, I’m the player. Screw Charles Barkley.”
He added: “… I’m tired of biting my tongue. There’s a new sheriff in town.”
