Charles Barkley trending for wrong reasons as Lakers secured second seed after impressive win

Charles Barkley has often stated that Luka Doncic and LeBron James led Los Angeles Lakers are not contenders.

Charles Barkley trending for wrong reasons as Lakers secured second seed after impressive win

Fans unload onto Charles Barkley after Los Angeles Lakers string of wins

The Los Angeles Lakers are on a 25-10 run since the middle of December. Their most recent win moves them up to 2nd in the Western Conference as Luka Doncic and LeBron James combine to make teams pay. Now, fans are pulling up receipts, especially those involving Charles Barkley.

The Hall of Famer has been a constant critic of the franchise, even calling them a joke at times. Earlier in January, he went off on one of his famed humor filled tirades when he suggested that JJ Redick was coaching a team that has many flaws.

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Their recent five-game winning run has the team at the top in both the offensive and defensive statistics. Charles Barkley’s believes the Lakers’ flaws are being masked by this run of wins. They did not get better player wise in the offseason, and those problems showed up during their ugly 2-7 run in late November to December.

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They have severe deficiencies in bench depth and at the center position. He thinks they lost more than they have gained after shipping Anthony Davis to the Dallas Mavericks. Those criticisms did not stop even after Luka Doncic came in and showed the team were playing a different brand of basketball.

Now fans are pulling up receipts after the team won their sixth straight game to take them up to second in the West. They believe the Round Mound of Rebound will still find some flaws to talk about. As soon as that win was over, social media was flooded with fans commenting on Barkley’s Lakers trashing clips.

Charles Barkley’s worries were legit at the time

It is not that Charles Barkley is not wrong. If one was to analyze the games from that stretch, the Los Angeles Lakers struggled mightily against fellow playoff contenders. Blowout games to the likes of the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Mercury, Minnesota Timberwolves and the Miami Heat showed major concerns.

The TNT analyst felt those problems are something the team has shown in the past two years. He believed former head coach Darvin Ham took the fall for those problems. Rather he believed players were not good enough and the team’s culture was also at fault.

He felt the team needed a few more stud pieces to be competitive. He also believed those on the team were not good enough to even be a part of a play in team. Barkley felt the Lakers were a team in dire need of a reality check.

But now it seems fans want the former league MVP to get a reality check. The Los Angeles Lakers do have a tough schedule in March. But if they come out with a decent record, the legend might have to change his narrative.