Charles Barkley: LeBron a top-10 all-time player, but he’ll never be top 5
TNT analyst Charles Barkley joined the show to share his thoughts on the NBA Finals and more.
Barkley said that he was tempted to fly to Las Vegas and bet on the Heat last night. He was actually impressed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could have gotten his team as motivated as they were.
Barkley said that the Heat had a lot of flaws, “but they have LeBron James. … You have to beat that guy four times.” Barkley thinks LeBron wore down Tony Parker and that was a huge factor.
Barkley thinks that the Heat need to retool in the offseason. He said unless they get better, LeBron will try to go elsewhere, because all this hard work will shorten his career.
Barkley said he already has LeBron in his all time top 10, but said he won’t ever put him in his top five of all time: Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. On the next level is LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jerry West.
Barkley also weighed in on Doc Rivers’ situation. Barkley thinks the Celtics would make out like bandits if they can get anything for Rivers, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. “Doc Rivers is a very good coach,” Barkley said, “but this game is about players.”