NBA legend Charles Barkley isn’t the biggest fan of Joel Embiid‘s plans to not play back-to-back games this season. Barkley appeared as a guest on the “Dan Patrick Show” on Friday, where he took a subtle shot at Embiid’s take on his availability for this season.
The Sixers star has not played a game this season due to “left knee injury management.” Before the start of the season, Joel Embiid spoke about his availability for the 2024-25 NBA season. A report from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps revealed that the 2023 MVP isn’t planning on playing back-to-back games this year.
Following the report, Barkley has expressed his honest thoughts on Embiid’s plan to sit out most games of the year. The TNT analyst ripped the current Sixers star on an episode of “Inside the NBA” on Oct. 25. However, he isn’t done as he took another subtle shot at the Cameroonian big man.
“This is the thing that bothers me about the entire 76ers thing. No. 1, you don’t tell people you’re not going to play back-to-backs. That’s where the stupidity started. But also, if you’re tired or a little sore, which every basketball player is during the season, say, ‘You know what coach, I’mma play 25 minutes a night. I’m not going to play 42,” Embiid said.
The former Philly star went on to ramble about stars who fail to take care of their bodies, despite getting massive paychecks. Chuck used New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson as an example.
“We’re talking about Zion [Williamson] last year getting in shape. I said, ‘Yo, man. For $70-80 million, you know what they be saying?’ ‘I’m worried about that Charles Barkley. He’s out here anemic. He got an eating disorder. He’s too skinny.”
“I got in shape for $2 million. My first contract was four years, $2 million. I lost 50 pounds because I was fat in college. Dan, I will be totally anorexic for $70-80 million.”
"They're both problems. Now it's just a 3-point contest, but what's got to be the biggest problem going forward is when we have guys making $80, $90, $100 million, not playing back to back games."
-Charles Barkley on which is worst for the #NBA, too many 3's or load management pic.twitter.com/b7G04QSWye
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) November 1, 2024
On Friday, Joel Embiid gave an update about his potential return. According to him, he recently started playing 5-on-5 scrimmages and hinted that his upcoming comeback.
What was Barkley’s initial criticism of Joel Embiid?
Barkley always speaks his mind when criticizing NBA stars. The former All-Star has used the same method when talking about Joel Embiid and his injury issues. Before the 2024-25 campaign started, the analyst called the report on Embiid’s load management strategy “stupid.”
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Barkley said. “I want to get this number right. He just signed for three years, $193 million to play basketball. We’re not steel workers, we’re not nurses. People who got real jobs have to work 40-50 hours a week. We’re playing basketball, at the most, four days a week.”
"We're not steel workers, we're not nurses… we're playing basketball, at the most, four days a week."
Embiid's load management isn't flying with Chuck 👀 pic.twitter.com/PC2HZd9HwK
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) October 24, 2024
The seven-time All-Star has not responded to the statement that Chuck made about him.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
