Following the Lakers' 125-122 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, Luka Doncic was doing a sideline interview with ESPN. Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley's birthday was on February 20th, and ESPN made a huge part of the programming around last night to highlight Barkley's birthday.
ESPN sideline reporter Jorge Sedano asked Doncic if Barkley and Doncic were in their prime, how Doncic would “cook” Barkley. Doncic facetiously replied:
“I would cook him for sure. I think he'll talk a lot between us… I think it will be very fun.”
Although Doncic's remark was in good birthday fun, perhaps it was a precursor to Barkley's comments that the Lakers are not a championship contender and wouldn't beat the Thunder or the top teams in the West.
“It depends on the seeding because if they’re six, seven or eight and they have to play Denver, Houston or OKC, they’re not going to beat those teams. I’m not even sure they can beat San Antonio,” Barkely said following the interview.
This led to a brief response by Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who was being prepared to be interviewed by the Inside the NBA crew following the victory.
Reaves replied, “Yeah, I heard a little bit. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion.”
Nevertheless, the hypothetical matchup between Doncic and Barkley would certainly be interesting. Ever since being drafted in 2018, Doncic has emerged as one of the best one-on-one scorers in the NBA. He has a penchant for shooting unguardable shots and hitting three-pointers at a high volume. He also plays at his own pace, rarely ever being sped up and using his strength to effortlessly muscle to the basket and even get to the foul line.
But Barkley in his prime was an anomaly. A 6'4″ power forward, Barkley was a strong force under the basket and gave his team more life on the offensive end by nabbing a high quantity of rebounds. He was also an adept scorer with a bruising back-to-the-basket game and could hit mid-range shots as needed in the flow of the offense.
The Lakers host the Boston Celtics on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
