Charles Barkley is known for being one of the best basketball players of all time and for being an outspoken sports pundit. Of course, there’s something else that a portion of the general public has come to know about him. In his spare time, Barkley also enjoys gambling and has been open about his love for it. Fans seem to have mixed feelings about his habits, and the former Philadelphia 76er is aware of that. So, as you’d probably expect, Barkley just shared a totally on-brand response to those who take issue with him placing bets.
The hysterical 61-year-old Inside the NBA host certainly isn’t one for mincing words, especially reacting to backlash of any kind. When he recently appeared on The Dan Patrick Show, the eponymous host asked the Round Mound of Rebound about his finances and whether he’s purchased anything “exotic.” The NBA legend asserted that he doesn’t buy anything extravagant, leading Patrick to quip that he’d have more money if he didn’t gamble. After that, Sir Charles shared the following assessment of his hobby:
You know what’s really funny about the gambling thing? You know, my grandma was a maid, and my grandmother worked in a butcher factory and we grew up on welfare in the projects. Nobody cared about my money. Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, let’s go take care of that Barkley family. Let’s do a GoFundMe for them.’ Now that I got money and I like to gamble, everybody’s like, ‘Man, he gambles too much.’ Let me just say this so that people don’t get the wrong idea, Dan. Kiss my ass!
So that message is quite clear, and it definitely tracks with the former NBA MVP’s bombastic personality. Charles Barkley, who recently walked back retirement talk, went on to tell Dan Patrick (as seen in the YouTube video) that he’s “gonna gamble” and that he “likes to do it.” The ex-Phoenix Sun also added that his weekends are usually devoted to gambling. Patrick went on to say that he’s “happy” that Barkley has an outlet but added that he’d like for him “to win a little more.” With that, Barkley shared a witty reply:
I would like the teams to play better! That’s what the damn problem is! It’s not my bad selection. It’s them! It is them!
The 11-time NBA All Star has made his share of not-so-good picks in his time, to be honest. Earlier this year, Charles Barkley spoke about his gambling losses and even shared rough estimations of just how much cash that’s flown out of his pockets due to him betting. He stated that while he’s probably won about $7 million from gambling, he’s probably lost about $25 million. The sheer thought of losing so much cheddar may sound daunting to most people but, then again, Barkley isn’t “most people.”
Considering his expensive extracurricular activities, it’s probably a good that he decided to renege on his decision to call it a career amid the Inside the NBA cancellation reports. “Chuck” said this past summer that he was planning to leave broadcasting regardless of whether TNT/Warner Bros. Discovery was able to secure the NBA rights for future seasons of the aforementioned show. However, he reversed course in order to save jobs at Turner Broadcasting, which oversees the series. By doing that, the ex-basketball player left $100 million on the table. He described the experience as being quite “humbling.”
All in all, though, one gets the impression that Charles Barkley (who complained about taxes years ago) is fine as far as his financial well being goes. He said early during his recent interview that he’s not “stupid” when it comes to his money and, in the past, Barkley has also preached fiscal responsibility, especially when it comes to athletes. With that, it sounds like he has no plans to stop gambling anytime soon and, if people don’t like it, well… you read what he said.