NBA Hall of Famer and sports pundit Charles Barkley is known for his candidness and never afraid to speak up his mind. This time Chuck shared his thoughts on Kevin Durant’s trade drama with the Brooklyn Nets.
Earlier this week, Durant decided to honor his contract and drop the trade demand he put in June. This means that KD has four more years and $198 million left on his contract with the Brooklyn Nets.
Barkley was asked his opinion on Durant on the Arizona Sports Bickley and Marotta radio program and had nothing but criticism for the player.
“… if you go back and look at his career, as the best player and being the leader that all goes with that, he’s been an abject failure,” said Barkley, according to USA TODAY.
Besides criticizing Durant’s play, the “Inside the NBA” analyst also took issue with the player’s attitude.
“He seems like a miserable person, man. I call him Mr. Miserable, he’s never going to be happy. Everybody’s given him everything on a silver platter,” said Barkley.
Sir Charles continued to explain how he thinks KD is taking his position for granted.
“He was the man in Oklahoma City, they loved him, he owned the entire state. He bolts on them and wins back-to-back championships, and he’s still not happy. Then he goes to Brooklyn, they give him everything he wants and he’s still miserable,” added Barkley.
Other reactions to Durant’s situation
Other figures within the NBA sphere have also taken issue with Durant’s trade situation in the past. Fellow Inside the NBA pundit and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal expressed his distaste for KD’s transfer request to leave Brooklyn. Shaq compared the act of building a team to building a house and lambasted Durant for wanting to abandon his position.
“When you put a house together, you should live in it… You, as a leader, should make it work, but you don’t want to make it work,” said O’Neal, according to the New York Post. “I guess you go buy another house. You know he’s probably trying to get to a contender. It’s easier that way.”
An anonymous NBA executive was also reportedly critical of Durant’s trading prospects. Though KD has a large number of titles and strong stats, his behavior makes trading for him a risky prospect.
“Teams don’t want to overpay for someone who has proven he will burn your house down,” reportedly said the exec, as per USA TODAY.
The joint announcement between Durant and the Nets marked the end of the months-long drama that has taken over the NBA offseason.
“Steve Nash and I, together with Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, met with Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman in Los Angeles Yesterday. We have agreed to move forwards with our partnership. We are focusing on basketball, with one collective goal in mind: build a lasting franchise to bring a championship to Brooklyn,” wrote the Nets’ official Twitter account.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed his relief at Durant’s situation being resolved without needing a trade. He explained that trades could have “a ripple effect on a lot of other players, on that player’s team and other teams.”
Silver also noted that he and the National Basketball Players Association would be looking deeper into player trades as a whole.
“It’s one of those issues that as we move into this collective bargaining cycle, which we are just beginning now, we intend to discuss with our Players Association and see if there are remedies for this,” said Silver.