Charles Barkley‘s brutally honest opinion is sometimes followed by criticism. Chuck’s beef with Warriors stars Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins is one such instance that comes to mind. But despite the beef, Sir Charles remains some of the veterans, and aspiring basketball players’ ideal star. Even Cousins who previously claimed that he had no respect for Chuck preferred him over Shaquille O’Neal.

DeMarcus Cousins believes that he is just a bigger and taller version of Barkley. He highlighted that their playing styles and work ethics are similar. While discussing his offensive game, he admired former NBA players such as O’Neal, whom he considered the most dominant. However, after some self-reflection, he realized that his playing style was more similar to Barkley’s. 

While admitting to having had a feud in the past, Cousins said on Knuckleheads Podcast, “I thought Shaq was the most dominant thing to ever touch a basketball so I’m like yeah, I want to be that like, you know what I mean? So obviously, Shaq and but when I say I’ve thought to myself and self-reflected over my career just been trying to figure out like what exactly or what style of play do I think matches me, that’s come through the league and it’s crazy.”

He further added, “We’ve had your bad history or whatever and we you know, we’re on a new path now but uh, it was Charles Barkley like when I really thought about it like I’m like, I feel like I was just a taller version of Charles, a big that did everything.”

Let’s not forget that both were selected as the fifth overall in their respective NBA drafts, Barkley in 1984 and Cousins in 2010 and both come from Alabama. But interestingly, this is not the first time Cousins has pointed out this similarity. The 4x NBA All-Star made the confession last year as well during a conversation with NBA legend Kevin Garnett in the KG Certified podcast. He named several players who inspired him such as Pau Gasol and Shaq. 

But he admitted that his style closely resembles Chuck’s game. “The guy that I felt was a combination of all that, was Charles Barkley,” Cousins claimed. As mentioned, there’s a reason why Cousins mentioned their history.

DeMarcus Cousins claimed that he “doesn’t care” about Charles Barkley

This was around the time of hiring George Karl as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings. As per sources, Cousins was also in the discussion that ultimately decided upon the hiring. Chuck wasn’t impressed with the entire situation. In his comment, Sir Charles expressed that he was “disgusted” by this. He also stated his belief that back then Cousins had not achieved enough to have this type of power. 

“If you’re a Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, or somebody like that, yeah, you deserved that type of power after you have earned it,” Barkley said to the reporters. He further added, “Let me just say this either way, that’s just total bulls***. That’s ridiculous.” 

Later, Cousins clarified that he wasn’t even part of the discussion on hiring Karl as head coach. He alluded to the reporters that he also isn’t bothered by Barkley’s comment and said, “I don’t respect him, and I don’t care what he thinks.”

Regardless of what happened in the past, Cousins seemed to have moved on from his previous claims. Do you think Cousins’ game resembled Barkley’s?

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.