Charles Barkley Compares LeBron James Teaming With Dwayne Wade On Miami Heat To Kevin Durant Joining Golden State
NBA analyst Charles Barkley has a long-time feud with Phoenix Suns All-Star Kevin Durant.
Barkley had some more words for Durant on a segment of First Take Monday morning, comparing his move to the Golden State Warriors to LeBron James going to the Miami Heat.
When Stephen A. Smith asked about the variance between James’ and Durant’s decisions, Barkley said, “There is no difference.”
Some fans took exception to that statement, considering the contrast in the situations. James was coming from a Cleveland Cavaliers team that lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Durant was coming from an Oklahoma City Thunder team that was one game away from the NBA Finals, boasting players like Russell Westbrook. During his tenure in Cleveland, James’ best teammate was Zydrunas Iglauskas. In addition, James went to a Heat team that was a 47-35 team in 2010, while Golden State won a league-record 73 games and went to the 2016 NBA Finals.
Barkley did eventually speak in defense of James over Durant.
“LeBron said, ‘I had to win a championship without Dwyane Wade to get old heads’ respect,” Barkley said. “Kobe Bryant said this too about winning without Shaq. I hold Kevin Durant to the same criteria.”'
Barkley has criticized Durant frequently for his inability to generate success outside of Golden State. Durant is still one of the best scorers in the league and has generated individual accolades aside from playing with the Warriors. Still, he has not made it to a championship in his years away from the team, winning just one playoff series since 2019.
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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
