Charles Barkley is on LeBron James’ side but he breaks down options that shines the light of the ramifications of not playing
Now that Kyrie Irving has started the interesting debate to the NBA with all of the social unrest going on, it seems the opinions are coming out in droves. In the beginning, it was believed that Irving was alone in his beliefs. Now it seems now that Kyrie has some company (Lakers players Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard included!) about the focus on social justice.
Charles Barkley was on ESPN this week disagreeing with Kyrie’s idea, stating that it could be “catastrophic” if the NBA decided to boycott. Listen to Barkley explain how the league could stand to lose not only billions of dollars but their platforms to create change.
To recap, Charles Barkley disagreed but had reasons why.
1. If the players don’t play, they’re gonna be ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ for the rest of the year.
In other words, the news cycle will move on and find something else to cover. As long as the NBA season is being discussed at this point it will provide unlimited potential exposure to social issues that the players want to cover.
2. They’re gonna lose billions of dollars that the players could use to go into their own communities and do some great stuff.
As of this juncture, no one really knows what is going on behind the scenes with the union and the owners. The players can demand the owners to fund programs for communities around the country. They lose that ability if they walk out and alienate the owners.
Then there’s the reality of the situation. The owners can tear up the existing collective bargaining agreement and force a lockout. There are so many financial ramifications attached to this season, it would take numerous articles to cover it all.
This is the right way of covering the debate. Trying to attack Kyrie Irving’s character is the wrong way.