Transcription
How do you navigate? Because you were a great player, you won MVP, you went, you played, won two gold medals. How do you navigate, Charles, when you offer a critique or criticism of a current NBA great and they shoot back, "Well, you ain't never won anything. What did you do this? And what did you do that?" How do you navigate that?
Well, you got to be able to dish it and take it. The one thing I'm really proud of, and I hang my hat on this, I've never been personal with a player. Right? I only stick to basketball. Mhm. I only stick to basketball. I would never comment on a guy's personal life. Now, sometimes they get in trouble, I have to say something, you have to. But I have, I can, I can look at a guy and say, "Hey man," because I get calls all the time from players and agents. I said, "I'll tell you why I said that." And they're like, "Okay." I said, "I said this, what pissed me off too, Shannon? Yo man, why y'all never call me when I said something positive?" I said, "Wait a minute. I said nine great things about you. Why do you never call me when I said something positive? And I say one critique and you blow up my phone calling me names."
I had this thing with Kobe Bryant one night. So it was a game where he wouldn't shoot, right? Guess Phoenix, Game 7, I think. Because you guys told him, "You shoot too much." Well, he was trying to prove a point. Yes, I ain't got no help. So he went the whole second half and shot one time. And I, and I asked G, I said, "Earnestly, what I said, man, I'm so disappointed. I'm so disappointed in Kobe. He was trying to prove a point that he didn't have any help. He shot one time in the second half." And you know, at that time, they were comparing him to Michael. I says, "Michael, when he played against the Celtics, he's like, I got to get 60 something. I'm gonna get it. Whatever he not going to." How Kobe star is texting me, "You mother you mother." I said, "Yo man, I'm doing my job." "BL, you such a." We go back and forth for so, about this time, it's about 1:00 in the morning. We go back and forth for like two hours. I said, "Yo man, pick up the phone and call me. Stop texting." And it, it was, it was, it was great. We laughed about it later. He was mad at the moment, he understood I was doing my job. But it was so funny. We text each other for two hours, Shannon. And it was just mother told mother. And I'm, and I'm just like, I'm not going to get mad at dude. That dude called me, picked up the phone. But it was hilarious. We laughed about it later.
The greatest, this is the greatest player of all time. It seems to be a two-man race now. Michael Jordan, LeBron James. Nothing. Hey, Kareem. Kareem is the most underrated player in the history of the NBA. Yes. He's the, he, he was the all-time leading scorer, the third, the third leading rebounder, he won six MVPs, five championships. And that big, it seems like the man was with some sauce. Yeah. Well, I got a number of admiration for Kareem. First of all, I, the activist, he's always been. Yes. You know, I find the, let's talk about the Michael-LeBron thing. They played in different eras. They're, they're in my opinion, they're right there. You can, it's either A or B. Okay. But I would say this about LeBron. Number one, I like him a lot as a person. I think he's a nice guy. Never said that about Michael Jordan. He'll kill you. He'll kill you. I've said there two things. It's, I put Kobe right there also. But Michael and Kobe will kill you. LeBron's a nice guy, right? And Kobe will kill you. If they played against their sister, she going to get her ass kicked. LeBron like, he ain't going to beat up his sister. But I would say this about LeBron. I think it's the greatest story of any jock who's ever lived because if you go back and look about guys who came out of high school, people forget Kobe struggled early. He did. Kevin Garnett struggled early. LeBron James is the only one. Cuz we had his first game. Mhm. I say LeBron James is the only one who didn't struggle right away. Right. He came in and was a good player. He wasn't great, great, great right away, but he was a good player, right? But also in this generation where everybody's got a cell phone and people out to get you, he's never gotten in trouble. He's exceeded what expectations, any expectations, whatever you thought he could be because he was on, he was the chosen one on the cover Sports Illustrated, 17. So whatever you thought he could be, he's eclipsed it. He's eclipsed it. And, and to never get in trouble in this generation, uh, like I say, you know, everybody's got a cell phone now, people are deliberately trying to get you. Yes. I think it's the greatest sports story ever in my opinion. Single mom, didn't go to college, they gave the keys to the franchise to an 18-year-old kid and says, "We're only going to go as far as you take us." And like you said, he's been a model citizen both on and off. Obviously, the building the brand. Jordan gave you, gave everybody the blueprint. And we see Kevin Durant, we see the, uh, Steph Curry, we see the LeBron James starting production company, being active outside. Give Junior Bridgeman some credit too. People don't know who that is. Well, well, every time I see Junior, I say thank you because Magic is kind of taking over now. Oh, yes. But Junior was a good player. But his portfolio, owning all those restaurants, probably being the first billionaire athlete, to be honest with you. Him, Dave, being in, uh, also is amazing businessman. But every time I see Junior Bridgeman, like for a guy who didn't make a ton of money, that's what's so impressive. And didn't have the name, didn't have the name to learn how to handle business. And he's probably got 500 to restaurants now. And like, does it so low-key, does it so low-key. Like every time around here, I try to pick his brain, right? Because the one, like, it's, it's different now because these guys make so much money. Yeah. I said, back in our day, you, I says, dude, and, and I'm not poo-pooing on this either. I want, I want to make it clear because, you know, when I say it, it's gonna sound stupid. The most money I made was $5 million. That was my last year. Right. I says, now that's below the minimum. I says, to, to be a businessman in our day and become a billionaire, you are great at business, right? You a great at business. And he wasn't a name people wanted to attach themselves to. Magic, yes. People wanted to attach themselves to M. Yes. He was Junior Bridgeman, just a great businessman and a good dude. Hey, here's, here's, here's to me, is is one of the greatest stories ever. And if I was the NBA, Mhm. I would bring him in every year to my teams, teams, and said, guys, because what people don't understand, everybody on an NBA team or NFL team ain't making a lot of money. True. Or ain't going to play a lot of years. Ten. The average in, in both sports, the average year is about four years. Mhm. Those the guys who need a Junior Bridge. Mhm. That's like, you know, I was watching the draft last night and this always annoys me about young kids. Like these dudes got a little of a ton shirts, iced out. And I don't mind a little ice, but too much ice. They got Dior shoes. Uh, I says, they do know that money ain't going to last forever, right? Get you a pair of Nikes. I'm not paying for no Dior shoes. Uh, you got to be nice because you had that cranberry suit on. You a nice J with that little skinny tie. There's nothing wrong with a nice suit. But I tell these guys, you know, Shannon, when I first was an idiot, when I became, got my money, yeah, I had like, uh, three or four cars. And Dr. J says, "How many of those cars can you drive at the same time?" I said, "What do you mean?" He says, "How many of those cars you got to drive at the same time?" I says, "One." He says, "Well, why you got four?" He said, "Chuck, this money got to last you for the rest of your life." He says, "This money got to last you for the rest of your life." He says, "Son, don't waste all your money on cars." Everybody know who you are. W. He said, "If you pull up in an AIA, they know, oh, that's Charles Barkley. You pull up in a Mercedes-Benz or a Rolls-Royce, that's Charles Barkley." But the problem is, that money, it's not the fact that you can't afford that car, right? It's for the fact that that $300,000 you spent on that Bentley, if you bought a car for 70, 80,000, you would have had $200,000 more in the bank, and it would have been growing and growing and, and in one year, three years, five years, 20 years, that $200,000 is going to be worth a lot more.
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