It’s in the spirit of sports radio to embrace debate. But Rick Barry wasn’t in the mood for embracing anything Saturday.
The Basketball Hall of Famer and Golden State Warriors legend joined FOX Sports Radio hosts Rob Parker and Mark Willard to talk NBA Finals — more specifically, LeBron James’ decision to pass to Kyle Korver in the final minute of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 3 loss rather than take the shot.
Barry was adamant that James made the right play and shouldn’t be criticized. Parker pushed back and said LeBron did deserve to take some heat. And that’s when things went off the rails.
Rick Barry put Rob Parker in a damn body bag… 💀 pic.twitter.com/dqW88ZcV4a
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) June 11, 2017
“You don’t know the game!” Barry sniped at Parker, before calling him a “loser” in an exchange that got very personal very quickly.
You can see where Barry is coming from: He played well over a decade in the NBA and is one of the league’s all-time greatest players, and he’s probably tired of hot take artists like Parker trying to bring down James for making what actually was a smart basketball play.
The two eventually made nice and apologized, but it’s now very clear where Barry stands on the great LeBron James “pass vs. shoot” debate. James will need to make all the right plays Monday night, as Cleveland faces a must-win Game 5 in Golden State trailing 3-1 in the series.
Check out Barry’s full exchange with Parker below, courtesy of The Big Lead.
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Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
