Longtime rivals Charles Barkley and Draymond Green were oddly paired up for NBA on TNT’s new show “The Arena”. Chuck and Draymond will serve as hosts and will be joined by former NBA star Dwyane Wade and analyst Cari Champion. Plenty of people were expecting to see what type of relationship they were going to have on the show and they actually talked about their feud as they were asked to do so.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1285371177041457152
“I’ve said many times, I like Draymond,” Barkley said on Monday, during the show’s debut. “He does annoy me at times on the court, because you’ve gotta ask him if he’s ever committed a foul.”
Then, Draymond had the chance to respond, explaining why he didn’t appreciate some comments Chuck has made over the past couple of years.
“He’s a Black man, I respect him,” Green told Champion. “The issue that I’ve had is, a lot of people watch the game of basketball, and don’t know what they’re looking at. So when they look at a Chuck or they look at different guys who has these platforms, they take what you’re saying and they listen to that and they run with that. So whereas for me, it hasn’t necessarily affected my pockets, but there are a lot of guys in this league that people run with what guys say on these platforms, and it affects guys’ pockets, and that’s the issue that I’ve had.
“It’s similar to like Javale McGee when he came out with Shaq, (Shaquille O’Neal) and said ‘this is altering my career,’ and I think that’s what we have to understand. When I said on ‘All the Smoke,’ as a Black man, you gotta support the next Black man, you can’t keep putting the next Black man down. I understand that there’s a job to do, but I also know I’ve done too many great things in this league and won a lot to hear some of the stuff he be saying about me.”
These two have history. Chuck started everything when he said he wanted to punch Green in the face, then Green challenged to do so. They’ve been exchanging jabs after that. This season, Barkley mocked Draymond for his numbers, calling them a ‘triple-single’. Green replied saying he was just jealous of his success and his championships.
Now that they are together, it doesn’t look like they will have trouble working side by side. D-Wade would have a hard time splitting them up if they start fighting in the studio.
