Stephen A. Smith didn’t stay silent for too long after Charles Barkley eviscerated ESPN and, in particular, Kendrick Perkins.
Perkins responded to the quips about him, but Smith also felt the need to jump into the fray and responded to Barkley’s critiques in a post on social media.
“Yo Chuck, stop the b.s. with the “y’all.” Attach a name to it,” Smith wrote. “I know I’ve been talking about @cavs being the No.1 threat to the @Celtics . Once you come over here, there’s gonna be some folks waiting to call YOU a fool. P.S. You know I love ya, though. See y’all soon. Yo @TheJetOnTNT ….workbook those free throws😀. Love y’all.”
As part of a deal with ESPN and the NBA, Turner is licensing out the beloved studio show “Inside the NBA” to the Worldwide Leader starting next season.
The potshots by Barkley on Thursday night are certainly setting up an interesting dynamic ahead of that move.
Barkley had originally said on air Thursday night that Perkins was a “fool” and an “idiot” for saying that the Lakers saved the NBA.
“He said, the Lakers — first of all, the Lakers have had a great two weeks,” Barkley said. “He said the Lakers saved the NBA season. That’s because them fools on the other network, which we’re going to be working for next year, that’s all they talk about. Let me tell y’all something. And first of all, I want all the smoke. I don’t whistle when I walk by the graveyard or anything like that.”
He continued to criticize how ESPN seemed to ignore talented teams like Oklahoma City and Cleveland in favor of covering the Lakers and Warriors.
“Don’t get me wrong. If I turn out to be wrong, I got no problem with that. But y’all are idiots ’cause y’all talk about the Lakers and the Warriors all the time,” he added. “But that’s ’cause you fools on the other network, which we’re gonna become fools next year when we be working on that network, but Oklahoma City and the Cavs been balling for six months. Y’all talking about teams that had two great weeks.”
Barkley levied other criticisms as well, and Perkins shot back on social media, calling the former NBA great a “senior citizen.”
“When he see an idiot or fool in person, make sure he keep that same energy,” Perkins posted. “He can come playing with me if he want to and imma Address his ass like the numbers on a house. Straight from the 409 homeboy and we bar none and fade all.”
