The offseason for Charles Barkley has been about reacting to the changes within the NBA. The ongoing media rights negotiations made him announce his retirement. But TNT losing the NBA changed his plans. He’s been on a tirade since then accusing the league of picking money over fans. Chuck has made the growth of the NBA into a backhanded compliment. On one hand, he’s glad that players today are earning a lot more than his generation did. Yet he’s annoyed by the quality of the game and the ripples felt at TNT.

The 76ers legend was on The Phillies Show to talk about his favorite baseball team (who by the way, he’s sure will win the championship this season) but he digressed to talk about the NBA. “I’m talking about NBA players, some of these guys can’t play dead in a western movie.” Ouch. Could this be a sly dig at Shaquille O’Neal‘s campy acting career?

It’s Barkley rehashing his old argument about overpaid NBA players being in the right place and time. “They’re making thirty, forty million dollars a year. They were just a born at the right time. I don’t hate on them, it’s just facts. They can’t play, some of them, they’re all good players, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not good enough to be making twenty five, thirty, forty million dollars. They just born in the right situation and like I say just appreciate how lucky and blessed you are.”

Barkley was referencing the ongoing trend now about putting down the ’90s NBA generation. As a TNT analyst, he’s maintained that many players today aren’t grateful for their exorbitant salaries. He’s extremely critical of players underperforming in proportion to their contracts. In contrast, he praises athletes like Jalen Brunson for taking a pay cut in order to build a championship team.

Chuck also believes NBA players, including himself, are lucky they get paid to play ball. He holds frontline services in higher regard. But since TNT lost the NBA, his campaign has escalated.

NBA’s big payday impacted Charles Barkley and TNT

As soon as the NBA shut down TNT’s bid to match Amazon’s offer, Charles Barkley slammed the league. “They don’t really care about anything but how to make the most money possible. We should never put money above the regular fan,” Chuck said then. He however said in several interviews that the players stand to benefit the most from the NBA media rights deal with bigger paychecks.

Shortly after that, Barkley put retirement on hold and stayed with TNT. He refused at least $100 million more than his current $210 million contract doing so. But it might not make a difference.

It’s unclear what Turner’s plans are after 2025. They’re brainstorming ideas to revamp Inside the NBA with the original crew and without basketball. There’s also a chance it might not work, the show ends, and the Inside Guys might go to another NBA media partner.

Meanwhile, the 76ers are planning to move the arena to South Jersey. That absolutely infuriated Chuck who claimed, “I’m getting fired because the Sixers want a new arena.” It’s undeniable that the NBA’s $76 billion media rights deal would give the Sixers $1.6 billion arena ambitions a boost. But it came at the cost of the Sixers legend’s TNT job.

The Philadelphia maniac who’s rooting for the 76ers, Eagles, and Phillies this season, declared he’d never go to a Sixers game if they moved out of the city. Clearly, he doesn’t believe supermax contracts and new arenas are good for the sport.