Kyrie Irving’s act is wearing thin with Charles Barkley.
“Kyrie Irving, I don’t know him that well, he seems like a good kid,” Barkley said. “I’ve never seen a person so miserable.”
On Sunday, the Celtics star, a potential Knicks target, was recorded walking toward media availability in Boston’s TD Garden while saying, “I’m not going to miss any of this s–t when I’m done playing.” Amid a trying season with the Celtics, early favorites to win the Eastern Conference that have struggled to meet expectations, Irving has worn his feelings on his sleeve, and they’ve rarely been positive.
Irving’s sentiments seem to be shared around the league, at least according to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who was a guest panelist at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference this week.
“We are living in a time of anxiety,” he said. “I think part of it is a direct product of social media. I think those players we’re talking about, when I meet with them, what strikes me is that they are truly unhappy.”
Barkley isn’t buying into that idea.
“I think that’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard Adam say,” Barkley said Wednesday on ESPN’s “Get Up!” “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard any commissioner say. Listen … these guys are making $20, $30, $40 million a year. They work six, seven months a year. We stay at the best hotels in the world. They ain’t got no problems. That’s total bogus.”
While he dispelled the notion that players are beleaguered, Barkley saved his harshest criticisms for Irving.
“To have so much success, to have the world in the palm of his hand,” Sir Charles said. “He’s going to make $40 or $50 million a year for the next 10 years, he’s in movies, but he’s one of the most miserable people I’ve ever seen.”
Barkley, also known as the Round Mound of Rebound, battled criticisms of his weight and behavior during a 16-season Basketball Hall of Fame NBA career that included an MVP and 11 All-Star nods. While he often fought back — both verbally and physically — it came with the territory of being a great player. It’s a lesson he’d like those complaining to Silver to learn.
“What a lot of these guys don’t understand is, when you a star, and I’ve been a star, you get all the credit, but you get all the blame,” he said. “That ain’t right, that ain’t fair, that’s just how it is. That’s how this whole thing works.”