Charles Barkley will always be known as one of the most entertaining and honest men in basketball media. He always speaks his mind freely while giving the millions of viewers of ‘Inside The NBA’ a whole bunch of laughs. The former league MVP is always a treat to watch and is sometimes aggravated by his own crew just to get iconic reactions.
The same happened on the latest episode of the show as the broadcast was showing the greatest big-man duos in NBA history. After showing legendary duos like Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan with David Robinson, they showed the current center pairings from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics. Barkley didn’t like that.
Charles Barkley was annoyed that the TNT broadcast showed a graphic of great big man duos. When Horford/Williams and Towns/Gobert showed up:
"2 tall black dudes" https://t.co/0hLF4VJ4pl pic.twitter.com/lKRKqGjzLC
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) November 2, 2022
Kevin McHale & Robert Parish – “GREAT.”
Hakeem Olajuwon & Ralph Sampson – “GREAT.”
Tim Duncan & David Robinson – “GREAT.”
Al Horford/Robert Williams – “Two tall black dudes.”
KAT/Rudy Gobert – “Two tall black dudes.”
“Come on man, I love A Horford and Robert Williams but come on man, stop it… I couldn’t believe it that they were comparing them to them (the legends).
Barkley chastised the Timberwolves for making the Rudy Gobert trade, so he is definitely not a fan of the situation in Minnesota. The Celtics duo just went to the NBA Finals, so they evidently have Barkley’s respect.
Best Modern Big Man Duos?
In the last few years, the NBA went through a phase of going as small as possible. Teams have played regularly undersized players at the center if they’re even remotely capable of the position. This is in stark contrast to the ’90s when teams would try to have the best big-man talent to give themselves an advantage.
We have finally seen the return of big-man duos in the NBA recently, with the Cleveland Cavaliers leading the charge with their lineup featuring Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. The Wolves went all-in on that strategy by pairing All-Star center Rudy Gobert with another All-Star center in, Karl-Anthony Towns. Suffice it to say, it isn’t going well.
There have been memorable big-man duos in recent years, with Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins being a sentimental favorites of many. We will find out over the course of the season whether this strategy can actually work in the modern NBA with more refined bigs that can space the court and share it with another center.
