Charles Barkley, famous for his unfiltered commentary, didn’t mince words about Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, and the current state of the NCAA during his 60 Minutes interview with Jon Wertheim.
The segment, which aired Sunday on CBS, featured Barkley and Wertheim visiting Barkley’s hometown of Leeds, Alabama to discuss his life before, during, and after basketball. While talking about his rise to stardom at Auburn University, Barkley expressed disappointment with the modern college basketball landscape.
“It’s a travesty and a disgrace,” Barkley said of the college game. “I’m so mad now how we can mess up something that’s so beautiful.”
Barkley added that because of the new name, image, and likeness (NIL) policy, only a couple dozen schools will be capable of landing top recruits. The rest, he said, will be “irrelevant.”
He then took aim at current NBA star Durant — a player who has repeatedly aired his grievances with NBA media personalities. Barkley maintains that for Durant’s superstar status, he’s still “very sensitive.”
“Great player,” the 11-time all-star said of Durant. “He’s part of that generation who thinks he can’t be criticized. He’s never looked in the mirror and said, ‘Man, was that a fair criticism?'”
Not even Michael Jordan was spared from Barkley’s unrelenting commentary. During Jordan’s tenure as
Despite calling Jordan his best friend at the time of his remarks, Barkley said it was imperative to do his job as an analyst.
“I have zero credibility if I criticize other people in the same boat and not criticize my best friend,” Barkley said.
If their relationship is to be mended in the future, Barkley said Jordan will have to be the one to reach out.
“I got an ego too, Jon,” he said. “You can’t be great at something, like… That doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk. He got my number.”
Watch above via CBS.