There are many interesting storylines dominating the media in the NBA right now. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are always somehow involved, and Paul George defecting from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency was also eye-opening.
Of course, some things get overlooked, but that's just how the news cycle works in the crazy world of sports media. Recently, though, Charles Barkley decided to spotlight a pair of stories that he believes deserve more recognition than they have received over the past few years.
Barkley praised the Warriors and Nuggets
Over the past decade or so, two players in the NBA have revolutionized the game are Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic . While they are bonafide superstars nowadays, that wasn't always the case. At times, whether they would even make it into the league was a question.
Early on, Curry was an oft-injured guard battling for minutes. At the same time, Jokic was an unheralded second-round pick nobody thought much of. Chuck shouted out the Golden State Warriors and Denver Nuggets for holding onto these guys when they could have opted to give up on them.
"There's two interesting stories in the NBA that people never talk about; Steph Curry and (Nikola Jokic)," Barkley said on Club Shay Shay. "You talk about the people who deserve their job and people who should get fired, you know that when the Golden State Warriors had to make a big decision between Steph Curry and Monta Ellis, most people got mad they traded Monta because Steph was always hurt. Same thing with Joker and (Jusuf) Nurkic, they were like, 'Y'all should keep Nurkic instead of the Joker.'"
"And you think about how different, one guy got four championships and he's one of the greatest players in NBA history, and this guy's gonna be, and you talk about changing the entire dynamics of your franchise history, that's amazing, to be like, 'We made the right decision,'" Barkley added.
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Curry and Jokic have rewritten history
Nobody ever really comes into the NBA and is an immediate superstar, and that was certainly true for both players Over time, though, they both turned themselves into the superstars they are now, largely because their team gave them a chance to do so.
As Barkley notes, the Warriors moved on from Monta Ellis and opted to hold onto Steph and give him a shot to run the backcourt on his own. The result has been ten All-Star and All-NBA selections apiece, two MVP awards, and four championships for the Warriors.
Jokic eventually beat out Jusuf Nurkic for the Denver Nuggets starting center gig, and he's now easily the best player in the league. He won a title with the Nuggets in 2023 while earning six All-Star and All-NBA honors, in addition to three MVPs.
Sir Charles points out that these teams made the right decisions, but they aren't decisions that get the praise they deserve. And given how good they have been, it's safe to say that nobody is complaining about these moves anymore.
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