Despite being long retired from professional basketball, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley remains a beloved figure in the sports world, primarily because of how candidly he speaks his mind regarding any topic. Recently, he addressed the second apron in the NBA’s CBA, which, in essence, was a safeguard to keep teams from spending too much and stacking the deck against their opponents.
Barkley commented that the league had to implement this rule to keep superstars from teaming up, much like LeBron James did with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Miami Heat in 2010 and Kevin Durant with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
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“Why did Adam Silver have to put the second apron in? Because LeBron got all his guys together. Kevin Durant wanted to go play with the Warriors. Y’all don’t want to win a championship and just compete against each other?” Chuck said on Bill Simmons’ podcast. “Don’t get mad at Adam Silver because all y’all want to play together and dominate the league because y’all don’t want to compete.”
Former NBA champion and now broadcaster Richard Jefferson, though, was quick to call out Barkley regarding his statement. He reminded the all-time great that before calling out LeBron and KD, Charles must recall how he did the exact same thing when he joined the star-studded Houston Rockets in 1996.
A loaded Houston team
After playing four seasons for the Phoenix Suns, Barkley’s chase for an NBA ring brought him to the Rockets, which already had Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Despite the firepower that team had, they fell in the West Finals in 1997 and then, the first-round in 1998. In 1999, with Drexler retiring, they were then joined by six-time champion, Scottie Pippen.
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“I remember Charles Barkley going to Houston. He teamed up with Hakeem Olajuwon, and then Scottie Pippen was also there,” Jefferson said on the “Road Trippin'” podcast. “That sounds like teaming up.”
Stopping short of calling Charles a hypocrite, Richard reminded him that what he did was the same exact thing that LeBron and Kevin did.
“Charles, let’s be honest. You literally joined a team with Hakeem Olajuwon because he had won two championships,”he remarked. “That sounds like maybe LeBron going and joining D-Wade. And then you brought in Scottie Pippen. Man, that sounds like Chris Bosh joining.”
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The Lakers’ greats did it as well
Jefferson added that Barkley doesn’t need to look too far for an example of an NBA legend who tried to load his team up with other superstars — Shaquille O’Neal, who’s his close friend and colleague on “Inside The NBA,” did it in 2003 when the Lakers added two Hall of Famers to their roster: Karl Malone and Gary Payton.
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“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, the second all-time leading scorer, to play power forward next to Shaq in his prime after they had won three out of the last four championships,” Jefferson asserted.
“So how are we going to just now all of a sudden forget all of our NBA history? And that’s just going back a few years. Come on. So no, the second apron doesn’t exist because LeBron and guys wanted to stop competing. Why did Charles go to Houston? Or maybe he’s telling us he didn’t want to compete. Come on, Charles,” he concluded.
The concept of superteams has always been controversial, particularly among players from the 1990s and 2000s. During that era, athletes aimed to win championships with the teammates already on their roster rather than seeking out star-studded alliances. However, before Barkley casts another stone at the modern NBA, it’s worth noting that he was part of a superteam himself.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.