Lakers News: Why Charles Barkley Is Disappointed In LeBron James

The Hall of Fame forward weighs in.

Although your Los Angeles Lakers' season has been over for a week, they remain top of mind in many NBA-centric conversations. That's because, despite being swept by the NBA Finals-bound Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference, LA All-Star forward LeBron James floated the possibility that he might walk away from $97.1 million in salary and retire this summer.

James, 38, turned in another stellar season, especially given his age and NBA mileage (he's been to 10 NBA Finals in his 20 seasons, in addition to several other deep playoff runs, including this year). He did look a step slow in the postseason, and was not scoring with his standard proficiency, but that could be in part due to a right foot tendon injury that might require surgery in the offseason. 

Another Hall of Fame forward, TNT commentator Charles Barkley, recently took to "The Pat McAfee Show" to register his frustration with James' decision to suggest he might step away from the game -- while also opining that James would do no such thing this summer.

"HELL NO LeBron isn't gonna retire"

Charles Barkley #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/jcgvYLEF2S

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 26, 2023

“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 [Nuggets All-NBA center Nikola Jokic],' I’m like ‘Yeah man, if y’all quit talking about LeBron retiring, [we could] talk about how great The Joker is!’”

As one of the best players in the history of the game, James had to know that even the possibility of retirement would suck a lot of the oxygen out of the room and dominant NBA conversations, making Denver's rise something of an afterthought.

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