Charles Barkley Trolls 40-Year-Old LeBron James’ Sciatica Injury: “They Just Put Old”

Charles Barkley believes LeBron James is just avoiding playing to conserve his body for later in the playoffs.

Charles Barkley Trolls 40-Year-Old LeBron James’ Sciatica Injury: “They Just Put Old”

LeBron James gets trolled by Charles Barkley (Image via FirstSportz)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Charles Barkley and his Inside the NBA crew are about to cover the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2nd time this season on ESPN. They will have to cover the team without their 2 primary players in LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

The latter has been struggling with a finger and leg injury and is not expected to return to the court until next week. Without him leading the scoring, the team has gone 1-1 with Austin Reaves leading the line.

The latter has a lot on his shoulders, as he has to produce enough to cover for both Doncic and James. While talking about the Lakers, Charles Barkley said this:

First of all, LeBron don’t have a sciatica (injury). They just put old. With an extra D too.

Charles Barkley said on X

The Hall of Famer had once clarified to fans while on the Rich Eisen Show what the Sciatica injury means. Now, he was trolling the all-time leading scorer, as he believes those are the types of injuries older people get.

LeBron James is not scheduled to return at least until mid-November. That is why Barkley was not willing to cover the Lakers that much, as he believed this team was just sailing along without both of their leading superstars on the court.

Charles Barkley demands more from Deandre Ayton

Knowing the Los Angeles Lakers are just strolling through the park until they are close to full strength, Charles Barkley decided to talk about the one player he believes should be taking advantage of this situation.

Deandre Ayton with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka
Deandre Ayton with Lakers GM Rob Pelinka (Image via Deandre Ayton/X)

He’s (Deandre Ayton) the guy… With them guys out, he should be like, ‘I’m going to get another 15–20 shots a game.’ He should be the 2nd-best option.

Charles Barkley said

The Round Mound of Rebound continued to point out that Deandre Ayton should be playing for his next big contract, and the only way he can do that is to dominate the floor.

At this point, Kenny Smith claimed that in 4 games, the Lakers center is averaging 15 points per game. But Barkley believes that number should be significantly higher, especially with LeBron James missing numerous games.

His absence should afford the former No. 1 overall pick enough opportunities to rack up more statistics. Without that, Barkley feels that not only can the Lakers exploit Ayton’s abilities, but his efforts to get a long-term contract will be moot.

Charles Barkley criticizes current NBA players’ attitude towards coaching

Charles Barkley and his Inside the NBA crew then went on to talk about the coaches in today’s basketball and how they are shaping current generation players.

In my day, when a coach criticized you it was called good coaching. When people criticize players today it’s called hating. That’s why these bums be driving me crazy. Coaches, their job is to criticize. It ain’t criticism, it’s coaching.

Charles Barkley said

Barkley feels that current generation players are becoming too sensitive and not understanding the difference between constructive criticism and negativity. That is making them ‘dumb’.

Also Read: