Charles Barkley wants to talk some sense into Bryant Gumbel. Just one day after the host of HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbelcompared NBA Commissioner David Stern to a "modern plantation overseer" while bashing him for his role in the NBA lockout, the Round Mound of Rebound responded on The Dan Patrick Show with some strong words of his own.
"I thought his comments were stupid," Barkley said yesterday. "First of all, it's disrespectful to black people that went through slavery while guys are averaging five million dollars a year. That's just disrespectful. When David Stern took over—I went and did my research because I knew people would make a big deal out of it—when David Stern took over the NBA in 1984, which was my first year, the average salary was $315,000. That was the average salary. The average salary is now $5.15 million. When has he been holding people back from making money? Secondly, David Stern works for the owners and his job is to make sure the owners have a fair deal. I like Bryant and I like that show a lot, but the commissioner works for the owners. He's just trying to get a fair deal for the owners. It's disrespectful to black people. I don't think slaves are making $5.1 million a year."
Damn, Chuck. Is there anything you can't talk about? [via SportsGrid]
