{"id":616614,"date":"2026-02-21T23:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/616614\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T23:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:23:15","slug":"ive-changed-my-mind-charles-barkley-abandons-knicks-names-new-eastern-conference-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/616614\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I\u2019ve changed my mind&#8217;: Charles Barkley abandons Knicks, names new Eastern Conference favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Charles Barkley guarantee has officially moved to &#8220;The Land.&#8221; After previously crowning the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/new-york-knicks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Knicks<\/a> as the future kings of the East, Sir Charles is making a hard shift that has the NBA world buzzing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019m changing my pick,&#8221; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESPNCleveland\/status\/2025282313408422190?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Barkley announced on ESPN<\/a>. &#8220;I told y&#8217;all I thought the Knicks were coming out of the East&#8230;it\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/cleveland-cavaliers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> that are coming out of the Eastern Conference.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>More:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/cleveland-cavaliers\/news\/james-harden-cavs-playoff-hype-espn-insider-pump-brakes\/175dad8ade6f5046e0fbef3a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">James Harden &amp; Cavs playoff hype: Why ESPN insider says to &#8220;pump the brakes&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Why the Change?<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Beard&#8221; has changed everything. Since the blockbuster trade earlier this month that sent Darius Garland to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/los-angeles-clippers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Clippers<\/a> for James Harden, the Cavs have been on an absolute tear. Cleveland remains undefeated with Harden in the lineup, a stretch where the future Hall-of-Famer has been rolling, averaging 18.4 points and 8.6 assists while shooting a blistering 48% from deep.<\/p>\n<p>Even Darius Garland acknowledged the cold reality of Cleveland\u2019s &#8220;win now&#8221; desperation. &#8220;They thought that James had something that I didn&#8217;t, I believe&#8230; they want to win right now. They have a group too. And I guess I really wasn&#8217;t part of the plan,&#8221; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESPNCleveland\/status\/2024984592122306941?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Garland remarked<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"James Harden\" image_resolution=\"16:9\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/James Harden IMAGN 02112026.jpg.webp.webp\" title=\"James Harden\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-credit\">          David Richard &#8211; Imagn Images    <\/p>\n<p>Cavs vs. Knicks<\/p>\n<p>While the Knicks have size and grit, the Cavs now possess an intimidating blend of veteran shot-making and strong interior defense.<\/p>\n<p>Barkley\u2019s logic is simple: in the playoffs, you need &#8220;grown man&#8221; basketball. With Harden opening lanes for Donovan Mitchell and the twin towers of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen locking down the paint, the Cavs haven&#8217;t just caught the Knicks\u2014they\u2019ve surpassed them.<\/p>\n<p>More Cavs News:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Charles Barkley guarantee has officially moved to &#8220;The Land.&#8221; After previously crowning the New York Knicks as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":["post-616614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-basketball","tag-cavaliers","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-clevelandcavaliers","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116111200839782756","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616614","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=616614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}