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Charles Barkley Rips the NBA for the Timberwolves-Nuggets Late Tip-off

Also in Traina Thoughts: The Grizzlies shouldn’t trash-talk LeBron; Gus Johnson is back; Shohei Ohtani finally struggles with something and more.

Jimmy Traina

Charles Barkley Rips the NBA for the Timberwolves-Nuggets Late Tip-off
Charles Barkley Rips the NBA for the Timberwolves-Nuggets Late Tip-off /

1. How many analysts would have the guts to call out a league and, in a way, his own network on that network’s pregame show before a playoff game?

One.

Charles Barkley.

Barkley was not happy with a 10:30 p.m. ET start time for the Timberwolves and Nuggets on Sunday night.

Instead of having games at 1 p.m. ET, 3:30 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, the NBA opted for 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. start times for Sunday’s four playoff games.

“I have a problem with that game starting at 10:30,” Barkley said on TNT before Minnesota and Denver tipped off. “I do have a problem with that.”

Ernie Johnson, who is ALWAYS on the mark, was off base for a change, telling Barkley that the game was starting at 8:30 local time in Denver. “It’s not going to be starting at 10:30 in Denver,” said Johnson.

“That’s not the point,” Barkley pointed out. “We had the whole day to ourselves. We should’ve played at 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock. To have that last game at 10:30 Eastern is just wrong. I don’t care what anybody says. It should not be starting that game at 8:30 Denver time.”

Shaquille O’Neal tried to push back, saying ridiculous things like “that’s your opinion” and “take your old ass home,” and it was just a terrible look for Shaq because Barkley was making a valid point, and Shaq didn’t have a legit response.

“I’m excited for the game, but I just don’t think it’s fair to have them playing that late,” said Barkley. “It’s just wrong. We gotta have some respect for the fans at some point. It ain't fair for the people in Denver to be playing at 8:30 at night and they gotta go to school tomorrow so stop it. We want kids to watch the game, don’t we?

I applaud Barkley for taking this stance. I especially applaud Barkley for taking this stance on TNT right before the game. It would be easy for Barkley to say this on a random podcast or radio interview on a Tuesday afternoon, but for him to call out the NBA and the networks for the TV schedule right before a playoff game took guts.

The bottom line is every single league starts postseason games at times that are way too late. The NCAA men’s tournament final just tipped off at 9:20 p.m. ET. Just absurd. Late start times are never going to change, and it’s one of those things sports fans just have to deal with.

However, it’s still satisfying that someone with power would point out that a 10:30 p.m. ET start time for an NBA playoff game on a Sunday sucks for a lot of people.

2: Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts agreed to a 5-year, $255 million contract extension Monday, which makes him the highest-paid player in NFL history. Hurts’s agent, Nicole Lynn, negotiated the deal and will obviously get a nice chunk of money from the deal. 

Amazingly, Lynn landed Hurts as a client by sending him this DM him on Instagram.

“Hey, have you picked an agent? If not, I’d love to link.

3. LeBron James, at 38 years young, had 21 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots in the Lakers’ 128–112 Game 1 win against Memphis on Sunday.

He also put the Grizzlies in their place after some disrespectful trash-talking.

4. After not calling an NBA game all season, the electrifying Gus Johnson was back last night calling Minnesota-Denver on TNT, and it was great to have him back.

5. Love is blind.

6. Shohei Ohtani experienced one of life’s biggest frustrations during Monday’s game against the Red Sox: the zipper botch.

7. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Jim Nantz, who did not hold back on a variety of topics, including:

• Did CBS snub Phil Mickelson during the final round of the Masters

• Was his “on the CW” comment regarding Brooks Kopeka a shot at LIV

• What was it like calling his final NCAA tournament

• What does he think of the Tony Romo backlash

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

8. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today would’ve been “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s 69th birthday. If you’ve never seen the clip of Piper going at it with Bill Maher, here you go.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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