Charles Barkley Passionately Explained What Annoyed Him the Most About LeBron James’s Retirement Comments

“I was disappointed in LeBron.”

Charles Barkley dished on his frustrations with LeBron James floating retirement rumors during an appearance Friday on The Pat McAfee Show.

The TNT analyst, asked whether he believed James might actually retire, strongly dismissed that possibility, saying “hell no” before explaining what bothered him about the situation.

“I love LeBron, but he knew what he was doing,” Barkley said. “I don’t think he should have said anything about [retirement]. I was very disappointed… the first thing you said to me was ‘Man, how great is The Joker’, I’m like ‘Yeah man, if y’all quit talking about LeBron retiring, [we could] talk about how great The Joker is!’”

Here’s the full clip of Barkley’s comments.

"HELL NO LeBron isn't gonna retire"

Charles Barkley #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/jcgvYLEF2S

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 26, 2023

Barkley had spoken earlier this week about his frustrations with how the media had covered the Nuggets’ series win, saying he turned his TV off because of the focus on James rather than Denver’s first-ever NBA Finals appearance. Regardless of LeBron’s intentions, it certainly had the impact of taking the spotlight away from the Nuggets, who await either the Heat or Celtics in the Finals.