As the the Los Angeles Lakers continue to tumble down the standings, they've become easy pickings for talking heads around the league. Few are bigger, literally and figuratively than Charles Barkley, who let it be known that LA's veterans are downright “cooked”.
Barkley was namedropping vets after the Lakers were manhandled by the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, 132-111.
“As a guy who was a great player, when I got old it sucked,” said Barkley. “So the Lakers got all them old guys. Think about this. All of those old guys, they're cooked. Well-done. Over. Dwight's cooked. DeAndre Jordan cooked. Carmelo is cooked. I love Carmelo, it's over. Those guys are cooked.”
"All those old guys, they’re cooked. Well done. It’s over."
Chuck sounds off on the Lakers 👀 pic.twitter.com/KhfxHUO90v
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 4, 2022
Barkley erroneously called out DeAndre Jordan, who already left the Lakers to join the Philadelphia 76ers. But that mistake aside, it's hard to argue with his take just going off that one game alone. Dwight Howard started the game but played just 16 minutes and produced two points, one rebound and one assist with no blocks or made field goals in that entire span.
While Carmelo Anthony fared better on the typical box score, with 13 points and two rebounds, he did finish with a team-worst -34 during his time on the floor.
Given that Melo is averaging 13.6 points on decent shooting numbers off the Lakers bench, it's unfair to call him cooked. But he's clearly far removed from the player he once was, which is the common denominator for many of the players on LA's roster.
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