Charles Barkley blames agent Rich Paul for botching Anthony Davis situation
Charles Barkley is blaming Klutch Sports agent Rich Paul for botching the Anthony Davis trade situation.
Paul issued a public statement a week and a half before the trade deadline in which he said Davis would not sign a long-term contract extension with the New Orleans Pelicans and therefore wanted a trade. It became pretty evident that Paul was trying to get Davis traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, but that didn’t happen. The Pelicans toyed with the Lakers and even tried to sabotage them.
Barkley spoke with other media members from Charlotte on Thursday and addressed the Davis matter. Beware as he uses some foul language when saying how much the situation was screwed up.
Charles Barkley on Anthony Davis: “Don’t ruin your reputation as 1 of the nicest guys in the world. Your agent works for you; you don’t work for him. They handled the situation wrong and it’s going to bite him in the a—… Workers ain’t never gonna have power over ownership.” pic.twitter.com/j5AAlYLCkI
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 14, 2019
He’s right. It’s bad for the league when star players try to force a trade in that manner a year and a half before they are set to become a free agent, especially when an effort was so clearly orchestrated by a few star players behind the scenes. They should have just waited until after the season to handle things rather than try to force New Orleans’ hand partway through the season.
This isn’t the first time Barkley has spoken negatively about Davis’ demand; he previously said the league should intervene to block a trade to the Lakers.
