Love him or hate him, Charles Barkley knows how to stir the pot. The NBA legend and former Suns star has built a reputation for speaking his mind, no matter how controversial his take may be. But this time, his unfiltered opinions didn’t just make waves—they created a full-blown firestorm. Some of his peers are firing right back, calling his take the same thing.

All of this unfolded on Green Bay coach Doug Gottlieb’s podcast. Gottlieb and former player Jason Stewart were discussing Barkley’s comments about the Lakers not being as interesting a story as the Cavs or the Thunder this season. Stewart completely disagreed with Barkley, stating, “I think for a guy that does TV, Charles Barkley is telling us that he doesn’t know TV,” he said. He further went on to call Barkley’s comments “disingenuous,” suggesting that Barkley was either out of touch or deliberately downplaying the Lakers’ significance to generate controversy.

And Doug Gottlieb, Green Bay’s HC, wholeheartedly agreed with his co-host on this one. “First of all, I completely agree with you. It’s disingenuous. We know how the numbers work…It is weird that as long as he’s working TV, he pretends like he doesn’t know TV. And Charles does know TV, that’s why he talks about Kendrick Perkins and those other guys,” he asserted.

They both agreed that the Lakers, and even Steph Curry and the Warriors, to a lesser extent, were the more engaging stories in the NBA currently. And unlike Barkley, they opined that sometimes fans simply wanted to know the stories of the games rather than the coverage being all but the games themselves. This led to them wondering whether Barkley was being willfully “obtuse” with his statement.

And they are not the only ones calling out the funniest/most beloved person in sports TV history. Nick Wright had also weighed in on the debate, and he, too, described Barkley’s stance as “disingenuous,” accusing him of refusing to admit he was wrong about the team’s potential. He argued that Barkley’s comments were a deliberate attempt to avoid acknowledging his earlier misjudgments about the Lakers. ​

Adding another layer to the situation is the impending transition of “Inside the NBA” from TNT to ESPN, set to begin next season. So, it’s only fair to assume that eyebrows are raised. Also, ESPN personalities like Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins, whom Barkley directly criticized, quickly fired back with their own responses. Kendrick Perkins did not take Barkley’s comments lightly. He responded on social media, challenging Barkley to maintain the same energy in person.

“Hey @NBAonTNT might wanna tell that senior citizen Charles Barkley that I’ll be around,” Perkins tweeted. “When he see an idiot or fool in person make sure he keep that same energy. He can come playing with me if he want to and imma Address his ass like the numbers on a house. Straight from the 409 homeboy and we bar none and fade all. #TexasBoy.”

Their assessment may come off as harsh, but the logic they used was sound. But that may make you wonder. “What did Charles Barkley say exactly to draw their ire?“ Don’t worry; here’s a quick recap of the Chuckster‘s original comments.

Charles Barkley and his recent all-time rant

We all know how Chuck feels about the Los Angeles Lakers. When the Luka trade happened, Charles was among the voices saying that LeBron and Luka wouldn’t fit well on the same team. What an odd thing to say! Luka and LeBron got on like peanut butter and jelly, but even so, Chuck recently found a new bone to pick. This time, it was about how the media covered the Lakers.

“I saw a fool and idiot talking about the Lakers saved the NBA. He’s a fool and an idiot…The season’s been going great for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Y’all just wanna talk about the Warriors and the Lakers. They’re both doing great…Y’all just talking about who’s in second place, that’s the reason I get pissed,” said Charles. He was calling Perkins “a fool and an idiot,” during this rant.

Gottlieb and Stewart’s discussion about Chuck being willfully obstuse may be making more sense to you now. After all, ratings are king when it comes to TV. So it’s clear that Perkins was simply trying to get as many eyes on his show as possible. Discussing a team that’s on everyone’s minds is a great means to that end.

And no matter who you are, even if you’re NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, you can’t fault a man for doing his job. This was the reason why Gottlieb and Jason Stewart were so riled up by Barkley’s comments. Let’s just hope no one after them takes exception to these comments. But knowing Chuck, he’s about to see many more fires in the media. After all, the postseason isn’t even here yet!