Nets: Charles Barkley rips Kyrie Irving in bizarre rant

TNT analyst Charles Barkley flamed Nets point guard Kyrie Irving after he refused to speak with the media.

All players in the NBA are contractually obliged to speak with the media, so when Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving released multiple statements to confirm he wouldn’t do so this season, he predictably drew the ire of fans and analysts in the industry.

The league responded by promptly issuing Irving (and the Nets) a $25,000 fine and he only exacerbated the situation by posting an impassioned response on social media, in which he referred to reporters as “pawns.”

That statement indicated that Irving would fulfill his vow of avoiding the media, but he strangely stepped in front of the microphone on Monday to address the situation and preview the upcoming season, which is set to get underway in just a few days.

As commendable as Irving’s attempt to make nice with the media was, however, it didn’t exactly sit well with TNT studio analyst Charles Barkley, who torched him during an interview with ESPN radio on Thursday.

Let’s start by saying that we understand where Barkley is coming from. As somebody who played in the NBA for 16 seasons and always carried out his media obligations, he probably couldn’t stand Irving ghosting reporters in the name of maintaining his reputation.

It’s also worth noting that Barkley isn’t telling Irving to “shut up and dribble” when it comes to racial injustice or other politically-driven causes. There was actually a specific point in the interview in which he lauded the Nets superstar’s motivation to shed light on these issues.

However, there was no doubt a better way for Barkley, who is always susceptible to go off on a tangent, to imply that he’s sick of Irving’s antics than to come outright and question his overall intelligence and highlight the fact that he was only at Duke for one year.

A lack of an education — if you can even call it that — hasn’t stopped Irving from using his platform to speak out on police brutality and be on the front lines of peaceful protests while the NBA was suspended.

It also didn’t stop him from committing $1.5 million to help support WNBA players who chose to sit out the 2020 season due to health concerns and other personal reasons amid the ongoing pandemic and civil unrest.

There’s no doubting that Irving’s media stunt was problematic and he sometimes qualifies as being a difficult teammate, but can we please stop attacking him personally when he steps out of line? Again, he deserves to be ridiculed for declining to make himself available to the media, but Barkley was way off base with his rant.

Nets: Kevin Durant highlights from Brooklyn debut are amazing

Kevin Durant returned to the court for the first time in a year and a half and absolutely shined in his Brooklyn Nets debut.