{"id":791743,"date":"2026-07-10T16:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/791743\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T16:58:14","slug":"charles-barkley-says-nba-players-are-luckiest-people-in-the-world-lot-of-money-to-do-something-stupid-like-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/791743\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Barkley Says NBA Players Are Luckiest People In The World: “Lot Of Money To Do Something Stupid Like Basketball”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hall of Famer Charles Barkley<\/a> has now been covering the NBA for over two decades on Inside the NBA, and he realizes just how fortunate he has been. KRCR News Channel 7\u2019s Keith Jouganatos<\/a> asked Barkley if he\u2019s thought about the legacy of the long-running show, and he chose to focus on just how lucky his crew and NBA players are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think how lucky and blessed we are to do something so stupid,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cGetting paid to talk about basketball. We\u2019re the luckiest four dudes in the world. I mean, the only people luckier than us is the players. They make a lot of money to do something stupid like basketball, man. We\u2019re the luckiest people in the world, and you should be grateful and thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t get much luckier than getting to play a sport you love for a living and making millions of dollars in the process. There are a lot of people who have high-paying jobs but don\u2019t really enjoy what they do. Then there are others who follow their passion, but don\u2019t make a lot of money. It\u2019s the best of both worlds if you\u2019re an NBA player.<\/p>\n

Barkley has called professional athletes the luckiest people in the world<\/a> in the past, especially the ones who get to play for 10+ players. He was in the NBA for 16 seasons, and it helped him build a house for his mother and grandmother. Barkley was also able to send all of his nieces to college, while his daughter got to attend two of the best colleges in the world.<\/p>\n

Players nowadays make a whole lot more money than Barkley did, though. According to Spotrac<\/a>, the 63-year-old made $40.6 million in salaries over the course of his career. Quite a few players make more than that in just one season.<\/p>\n

While Barkley isn\u2019t a fan of the kind of massive contracts even mediocre players get these days<\/a>, that isn\u2019t his biggest issue. It\u2019s the fact that load management is a thing in today\u2019s NBA. Barkley has repeatedly ripped the players for it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like the current landscape at all,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cWe\u2019re not f*****g steel workers, we\u2019re not teachers, we\u2019re not nurses, we\u2019re not somebody in the service. To make 30, 40, 50 million dollars to play basketball two days a week in a row, if that\u2019s too much to ask, please tell me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said the same thing,\u201d Barkley continued. \u201cI admire teachers and firemen and policemen nurses anybody who\u2019s in the armed service, those are like real jobs. But we\u2019re so lucky and blessed, and in my day, I made $5 million, which is a ton of money.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow these guys are making 50, 60 million, and I\u2019m like, are y\u2019all serious right now?\u201d Barkley added. \u201cAre y\u2019all serious y\u2019all can\u2019t play basketball two days in a row for $60 million?\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkley again brought up back then that NBA players are the luckiest people in the world, who make more in a week than most people do in a lifetime. He wishes they would be more appreciative of that.<\/p>\n

Now, what Barkley fails to recognize is that more often than not, it\u2019s the team that makes the player sit out of games. There would definitely be exceptions, and Kawhi Leonard<\/a> is the one that immediately comes to mind, but most of them want to play. There is a lot you can criticize today\u2019s players for, but load management shouldn\u2019t be at the top of that list.<\/p>\n