Charles Barkley Rubs Salt on LeBron James and Lakers’ Wounds With Sweeping Display on Live TV: “The King Going Home”

Charles Barkley is exacting sweet revenge. He’s suffered the humiliation sweep and he’s doing that to the Lakers now who stand 3-0 in their series. The Lakers’ woes prolong in an imbalanced matchup against the defending champs who beat them 112-105 before the Los Angeles home crowd. Barkley is enjoying Shaq’s prediction going downhill so much. Before Inside the NBA went into commercial, he got out a classic broom and started sweeping the floors in Studio J. He’s not suddenly on a spring cleaning kick. It’s a very clear jab at the Lakers who are one game away from a sweep.

It was so evil, Kenny Smith tried to reason with him with a plea, “The King don’t deserve this, man,” referring to LeBron James. But Chuck fired back, “The King going home after one game.” Tragically, Chuck isn’t the only trolling James after the game.

The Nuggets outmuscled the Lakers in three straight games now. Bouncing from a 3-0 deficit looks near impossible now and it looks like it would be a sweep for the Lakers. Shaquille O’Neal had bet on the Lakers winning but when Chuck broke out the broom, he mourned, “I was swept five times.” He meant his career playoff sweeps from 1994 to 1999 before he finally won a title.

Note: Chuck’s broom is pretty modern and sturdy. Because brooms have suffered on Inside the NBA. He broke out the broom in 2020 too, preemptively predicting the Lakers will be swept by Portland in Western Conference.

That fell through when the Lakers beat the Blazers in Game 5 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals and they ended up winning the championship that year. But Lakers nation defender and the franchise’s 3x champ, Shaq paid Chuck back by snapping his broom on his head like a toothpick. If that didn’t traumatize Chuck, that humiliation 35 years ago probably did.

Chuck was personally victimized by brooms

Ernie Johnson rightfully pointed out Chuck gets to make the ‘sweeping’ analogy because, “He’s had it done to him before.” That was on May 2, 1989, the last time the Knicks and 76ers matched up in the playoffs. The Knicks figuratively took a broom to Chuck and his team in a best of five series.

To drive up the humiliation, the other Charles, Oakley with Sidney Green, Johnny Newman, Mark Jackson, and Eddie Lee Wilkins, found a janitor’s mop by chance and started sweeping the court. Patrick Ewing also got in on the action. That image of the Knicks mopping the floor symbolically with the Sixers went down in history and in Chuck’s memory.

You can see why Barkley is so passionately mean to the Knicks and its fans now that they’re playing the 76ers again. And he’s enjoying Joel Embiid giving them a tough time too. But the last time Chuck broke out the broom, LeBron James won a championship. So his broom may not be the worst stroke of luck.