Richard Jefferson had no patience for Charles Barkley taking negative digs at LeBron James, and clapped back in brutal fashion.
There seems to be a lot of discrepancy among the current and previous generations of NBA stars about the state of the league today.
Old-school players are not a fan of the modern trend in the NBA where superstar players team up with each other, whether that be in free agency or by forcing a trade.
Meanwhile, modern players believe that they have earned the agency to make their own decisions concerning their careers.
Charles Barkley recently blamed LeBron James and Kevin Durant for the creation of the second apron, saying their frequent movement to create superteams forced the NBA’s hand.
Photo by Jason Miller/Getty ImagesRichard Jefferson slams Charles Barkley for LeBron James accusation
Richard Jefferson appeared on the Road Trippin podcast to discuss Charles Barkley’s recent claims about LeBron James being responsible for creating the second apron.
He pointed to Barkley’s own history of trying to form a superteam, and also the 2004 LA Lakers landing Gary Payton and Karl Malone as previous examples of superteams, far before LeBron James started.
“Charles, let’s be honest, you literally joined a team with Hakeem Olajuwon because he had won two championships. That sounds like maybe LeBron going and joining D-Wade.
“And then you brought in Scottie Pippen, man, that sounds like Chris Bosh joining. Let’s go to Shaq and Kobe. Does everybody remember when they recruited Gary Payton, who was still in his prime, and then they recruited Karl Malone?
“Do we remember that the second all-time leading scorer to play power forward next to Shaq and his prime after they had won three out of the last four championships?”
“Why do we always make it seem like LeBron is the first person to ever join up in NBA history. We’re blaming everything on LeBron. No, the second apron does not exist because of LeBron James.”
LeBron James wasn’t the first star to form a superteam
The popular narrative in the NBA is that LeBron James is the reason there was a massive rise in superteams being formed in the league.
James’ 2010 decision to join the Miami Heat didn’t even form the NBA’s only superteam at the time. Just three years prior, the Boston Celtics landed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to form a big three.
That very same season, the Los Angeles Lakers landed Pau Gasol to give Kobe Bryant an All-Star teammate to compete for an NBA championship.
The only difference is that in these situations, the NBA teams were putting these players together. All LeBron James did was show players that they can make career decisions on their own.