Brian Windhorst Goes Scorched Earth on Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley seldom appears on ESPN as a member of TNT. However, massive waves manifest whenever Barkley lends his voice to another network. On Friday morning, Charles Barkley recently took Steve Kerr to task for his Team USA coaching decisions on ESPN radio. However, ESPN employees Brian Windhorst and Kendrick Perkins took exception to Barkley's harsh critiques.

Windhorst typically doesn't start controversies by stating strong opinions. The last time Windhorst conveyed a strong emotion was in the 2024 NBA Finals. Windhorst's notable fiesty commentary occurred following Game 3 of the NBA Finals, where he dismantled Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic for his lackluster defense.

Following Barkley's strong criticism of Team USA head coach Kerr, Windhorst chose Barkley as his next target.

“What he said about the ‘USA should win, and the USA has better depth,’ those are true statements,” said Windhorst. “But I just don’t agree with Charles when he says it’s not fair to expect them to be tested. Absolutely, you should expect them to be tested."

Windhorst went on to say how Joel Embiid has endured boos from the French crowd and continued explaining why Team USA went out of its way to acquire the Philadelphia 76ers superstar center.

“Why did the U.S. need him? Why was it so important that the U.S. needed him? Because our margin for error is razor-thin now. We’re now chasing naturalized citizens because we need the talent because the talent in the world is comparable — and the wolf is at the door," Windhorst claimed.

Although Barkley made valid points about Team USA having the best talent in the Olympics, Windhorst's retort also holds validity. It's no longer 1992 when the players were fans and not exactly threats to Team USA. Players like Serbia's Bogdan Bogdanovic display a different approach to Team USA. No Olympic team is afraid of the superstar-riddled U.S. roster. If anything, they look forward to facing Team USA.

France has the ultimate opportunity to win gold as the Olympic host and knock Team USA to silver. The gold medal game starts at 3:30 PM Eastern Time on Saturday.