Charles Barkley and Kendrick Perkins will be colleagues at ESPN next season, but it looks like they will have a lot to smooth over between now and then.
The ESPN analyst Perkins made some controversial comments earlier this week about the Los Angeles Lakers. Perkins gave the Lakers credit for supposedly “saving the NBA” right now.
During TNT’s “Inside the NBA” on Thursday, Barkley fired back at that notion.
“I saw a fool-idiot on TV talking about [how] the Lakers saved the NBA,” said Barkley. “He’s an idiot and a fool … He said the Lakers saved the NBA season. That’s because them fools on the other network, which we gonna be working for next year, that’s all they talk about.”
Barkley also said that “I want all the smoke” and slammed both Perkins and ESPN for always talking about the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors while largely ignoring teams that are higher up in the standings like the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers. You can watch Barkley’s full rant below.
Shortly afterwards, Perkins responded to Barkley in a post to X.
“Hey @NBAonTNT might wanna tell that senior citizen Charles Barkley that I’ll be around,” Perkins wrote. “When he see an idiot or fool in person make sure he keep that same energy. He can come playing with me if he want to and imma Address his a– like the numbers on a house. Straight from the 409 homeboy and we bar none and fade all #TexasBoy” (profanity edited by LBS).
Barkley, 62, has had an issue with Perkins, 40, for years now. In 2023, he slammed Perkins for having “ESPN disease.” Barkley also feuded with Perkins in 2024 after Perkins called out some comments that Barkley had made about Team USA Basketball during the Olympics. With the two former NBA big men now going at it again in 2025, one can only imagine what things will look like once they are working for the same network in 2026.
