"I Want All The Smoke. I Don't Whistle When I Walk By The Graveyard" - Charles Barkley Unloaded On Kendrick Perkins For Going On TV And Declaring The Lakers "Saved The NBA"

Luke Hales. Getty Images.

Not sure if you've heard or not, but the Lakers are on a bit of a roll. It's safe to say that the early returns on the Luka Trade have been incredible, with the Lakers being one of the hottest teams in the league at the moment (W7) while sitting in the 2 seed out West. 

As is tradition any time the Lakers win a few games, they now dominate the national storyline. It's not exactly rocket science to understand why, the Lakers move the needle. If nobody cared about them, then the networks wouldn't talk about them. That's just the world we live in. The issue of course, is that when it comes to the Lakers, these people cannot stay on planet Earth. 

Take Perk for example. Was it even the least bit surprising that once the Lakers started winning, this was what we heard on ESPN?

Mind you, the Thunder and the Cavs are having two of the best individual seasons in NBA history. Shit, CLE is on a 12 game winning streak. The Celtics are having one of the best title defense seasons since the Dynsasty Warriors. The entire Western Conference is separated by like 3 games outside of OKC, who just so happens to have a guy many believe is the MVP. 

The NBA wasn't "saved" because the Lakers won 7 in a row. It's been an incredible season since October, with teams having MUCH better seasons. Granted you have to assume the Klutch check hit Perks bank account which with that in mind makes that take a little more understandable, but it's still insane.

Don't take my word for it, just listen to Chuck

I mean, where is Chuck wrong? It's pretty obvious the actual issues surrounding the NBA have nothing to do with the on-court product. It's not the three point shooting, despite what these same networks want you to believe. A big part of the problem is actually the NBA media coverage, specifically ESPN. One minute you're being told the Lakers saved the NBA, all while these same shows/networks ignore everything else happening around them. ESPN didn't even post about Giannis joining the 20,000 Point Club which has literally been a huge deal for all of NBA history. But they sure as shit didn't miss an opportunity to tell you how great the Lakers are. It's narrative pushing at its finest. 

Let's be very clear about something. The viewer experience of the NBA product on ESPN is brutal. NBA countdown is a disaster, the halftime shows are basically all commercials, a return for a 15 second segment, and then more commercials. It's a tough watch and we've seen no signs that improvements are on the horizon. You had all this incredible stuff go on in the NBA on Wednesday night, and First Take debated MJ/LeBon with Kai Cenat. What the hell is that? 

We should also acknowledge that a lot of the things Chuck is complaining about in that clip also exist on TNT and the very show he's on. In fact, he at times is a culprit. The Inside guys are pretty open about how they don't watch everything, and let's not pretend like there haven't been some disaster moments from them at times as well.

But overall, Chuck is right. 

And sure, perhaps I'm writing this blog with an extremely heavy bias as a blue blood Lakers hater, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.