{"id":146741,"date":"2025-07-04T13:29:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/146741\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T13:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T13:29:37","slug":"charles-barkley-hilariously-responds-to-utah-jazz-star-walker-kesslers-girlfriend-abbie-stockards-miss-america-win-you-can-say-war-eagle-nba-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/146741\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles Barkley hilariously responds to Utah Jazz star Walker Kessler\u2019s girlfriend Abbie Stockard\u2019s Miss America win: \u201cYou can say War Eagle\u201d | NBA News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CharlesAbbie Stockard. Image via: Miss America Organization Charles Barkley<\/a> couldn\u2019t help but humorously react to the recent victory of Abbie Stockard, girlfriend of NBA player Walker Kessler. Stockard was recently crowned Miss America. During a lighthearted moment at Inside the NBA show, Barkley referred to the popular “War Eagle” chant which is a nod to Stockard\u2019s Auburn University roots. His witty comment quickly caught the attention of fans while celebrating Stockard’s win. Barkley also shared that he is proud of her achievement.<\/p>\n

Charles Barkley made a witty reaction to Abbie Stockard’s Miss America win<\/p>\n

Abbie Stockard, the girlfriend of Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler, was crowned Miss America 2025 on Sunday. A few days later, NBA legend Charles Barkley, also an Auburn alumnus, humorously reacted to the big moment.
Stockard\u2019s glorious moment got traction again as it happened to be one of the subjects of discussion during Tuesday\u2019s TNT broadcast Inside the NBA. The crew addressed the moment which propelled Barkley to respond. “You can say War Eagle,\u201d Barkley said, adding, “I’m proud. No. 1, shout out to my home girl. I wish I knew where she was from.”
The Hall of Famer went on to add that his hometown has several talents. “I told you, boy, we’ve got good-looking women and brains down there,” he added.
Stockard, who was a cheerleader and nursing student at Auburn, represented Alabama in the competition, which took place at the Walt Disney Theater in Orlando, Florida. She defeated Miss Texas, Annette Addo-Yobo, to claim the title. Kessler, who met Stockard during his sophomore year at Auburn, watched the pageant\u2019s finale with Jazz coach Will Hardy. In a now-viral clip, Kessler was seen standing up, appearing stunned by the result, while Hardy tried to hype him up, “Oh, she won! Let’s go!”
Kessler also added a heartfelt post on social media celebrating Stockard\u2019s stunning accolade. “Congratulations, Abbie! I am so proud of you and everything you stand for,” Kessler wrote on Instagram sharing a series of photos from the ceremony.
“Your hard work and trust in the Lord have awarded you with this incredible opportunity! Use your light to shine on others around you! Love you,\u201d he added.
The comment box of the post was filled with stunning reactions. Kessler’s teammate, Jazz forward Brice Sensabaugh commented, “most emotion I’ve ever seen from walker.” Isaiah Collier also commented, adding four fire emojis. Stockard took to her own Instagram story sharing the post with a caption writing, “This is my favorite.”
On July 26, 2024, Kessler posted a birthday message for Stockard on Instagram revealing in the caption that they share the same birthday. “I wouldn\u2019t want to share my day with anyone else. You are a truly special girl that never fails to make me smile,” he wrote.
Also Read: Shaquille O’Neal\u2019s response to Dwight Howard took a nasty turn as their social media feud heated up: \u201cU have been deleted\u201d<\/a>
Certainly, it has been a huge moment for both Stockard and Kessler. The NBA star currently averages 10.4 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists with a 71 field goal percentage. In their recent 124-121 defeat against the Atlanta Hawks on January 7, Kessler added 21 points and 10 rebounds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abbie Stockard. Image via: Miss America Organization Charles Barkley couldn\u2019t help but humorously react to the recent victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[28231,28230,7,2001,423,28229,6,422,427,3972,1405],"class_list":{"0":"post-146741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-abbie-stockard","9":"tag-auburn-university","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-charles-barkley","12":"tag-jazz","13":"tag-miss-america-2025","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-utah","16":"tag-utah-jazz","17":"tag-utahjazz","18":"tag-walker-kessler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114795208108839594","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}