Charles Barkley wasted no time making his presence felt on ESPN.
The retired basketball icon Barkley made his official ESPN debut on Wednesday night along with the rest of the “Inside the NBA” crew. Wednesday marked the first games of the new NBA season that aired on ESPN.
While previewing that night’s game between the LA Clippers and the Utah Jazz at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, Barkley got in a ruthless shot at the Clippers star Leonard.
“Well Kawhi got two jobs,” said Barkley. “He can’t work two jobs and play basketball.”
"well Kawhi (Leonard) got 2 Jobs…. he can't work 2 jobs and play basketball…"
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) October 22, 2025
– Charles Barkley during the NBA on ESPN debut of the Inside the NBA crew
(@PabloTorre / @pablofindsout) pic.twitter.com/U40PquHdDP
Barkley was obviously referring to the offseason scandal involving Leonard, the Clippers, and the now-bankrupt fintech company Aspiration. Leonard is alleged to have entered into a sham endorsement deal with Aspiration in which he supposedly got paid tens of millions for doing no work whatsoever. The Clippers are accused of having used that alleged deal to funnel money to Leonard on the side in order to purportedly circumvent the salary cap.
The last we heard of the Aspiration scandal came from Leonard’s public remarks on the situation a few weeks ago. But Barkley is more than happy to joke about the entire saga, which is very on-brand given that the Clippers have historically been one of his favorite targets.
