Charles Barkley Takes Veiled Shot at ESPN for Coverage of Bottom-Dwelling Teams in NBA: ‘The Idiots on the Other Network’

Charles Barkley took a veiled shot at ESPN for the network’s frequent coverage of the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.

As of Friday, the Lakers and Warriors were in ninth and tenth place in the Western Conference, respectively. Despite star-studded rosters including the likes of LeBron James , Anthony Davis , and Steph Curry , neither team has proven to be a legitimate championship contender this season. Teams like the Boston Celtics and the reigning champion Denver Nuggets, however, have more realistic chances of winning it all.

That was the point Barkley made on TNT’s Inside the NBA on Thursday night.

“The West is gonna go down to the wire, plain and simple,” Barkley said. “It’s gonna be fun to watch. You know, our sister network — the idiots on the other network — keep talking about the Lakers and the Warriors like they got a chance, but listen.”

Shaquille O’Neal then cut Barkley off and claimed the two teams did in fact have a chance thanks to the play-in tournament at the end of the season, which has seeds 7-10 compete for the final two playoff spots in each conference.

Barkley shot down that idea.

“The play-in’s not a real thing, just for the record,” he said. “That’s just something we made up, Shaq. It’s just like the [College Basketball Invitational] Tournament.”

Though Barkley didn’t identify the network, it was widely assumed online that he was referring to ESPN. To his credit, the network has dedicated a significant portion of time to a pair of teams that might not even make the playoffs.

Watch above via TNT.