“When You Come For the King, You Better Not Miss”: Charles Barkley Takes Aim at JJ Redick and “Bums” at Lakers

JJ Redick recently took aim at the NBA media for a lack of “storytelling” amid falling television ratings, but analyst and former league legend Charles Barkley has fired a heated retort back his way.

Charles Barkley Labels Lakers as “Bums” and Lambasts JJ Redick

Charles Barkley is not one for holding his tongue, which is why ESPN’s Inside the NBA has proven so popular over the years alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.

Barkley may not have stolen the headlines as often as he would have liked this season, but his latest tirade is nothing short of box office.

His colleagues – in particular Shaq – have been highly critical of the homogenous style of play sweeping through the NBA. With the lion’s share of teams leaning towards shooting from deep and collecting most of their scores from three-pointers, many blame falling NBA ratings on what Shaq calls a “boring” style of play.

LA Lakers coach JJ Redick, who used to be an analyst himself after retiring as a player, hit back at comments made in the media, although he didn’t namedrop anyone in particular.

After suggesting a lack of “storytelling” and “celebrating the game” are just some of the problems the league is facing, he continued by adding: “If I’m a casual fan and you tell me every time I turn on the television that the product sucks, well, I’m not going to watch the product.”

For some reason unbeknownst to the masses, Charles Barkley took this as a personal dig at him despite Redick not naming anyone. After catching wind of his comments, Barkley launched a scathing review of Redick and the Lakers, despite covering the Celtics and Timberwolves game live on air.

“Y’all heard JJ Redick said something about me?” Barkley said.

“JJ, you better calm down, cause when you come for the king, you better not miss … He said something about we’re the reason people ain’t watching this crappy product we got. Yeah, us, like we’re out there jacking up 100 threes a night … JJ, you come for the king, you best not miss, cause I can get you, brother.

Barkley continued with some eyebrow-raising swipes.

“We’re the reason ratings are down. We’re the reason, like we’re playing. If me and Shaq played, the ratings would be down.

“But in fairness, if me and Shaq played, we’d be like the third and fourth best players on that Laker team right now … bums out there, but it’s Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham’s fault! I’m tired of these people jacking up 100 threes saying we’re the reason ratings are down. ‘Thirty seconds to another three-point shooting contest!’”