The strange feud between Charles Barkley and Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins seems to be heating up in the cold winter. The two have never gotten along for some reason and Barkley can’t help but to trash Cousins any chance he gets. Cousins for his part doesn’t even seem to know why Charles always comes at him, but he didn’t hold back when asked about him. Just because you’re a legend doesn’t mean someone can’t come back at you when you speak ill of them.
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“It ain’t personal,” Cousins said when asked about the TNT analyst. “I mean, I don’t really respect the guy, but at the same time, I don’t really care what he thinks either.
“I don’t respect him and I don’t care what he thinks.”
Barkley recently was critical of the Sacramento Kings All-Star center and even used an expletive to describe how disgusted he was when discussing reports that Cousins was consulted by the Kings before they hired head coach George Karl.
“Why are they discussing it with him,” Barkley said during a TNT telecast. “Yeah, I am totally disgusted with that. … He hasn’t done enough to deserve that type of power. [The Kings] stink. Why would you give a guy that young that type of power?
Cousins responded Saturday by saying, “I mean, that’s Charles being Charles.”
“A lot of people don’t really know the real story about it,” Cousins said. “I never really had anything to do with it in the first place.”
Barkley and Cousins are two of the best basketball products to come out of the state of Alabama and both were selected fifth overall in their respective NBA drafts.
But Cousins said in a Bleacher Report feature last year that he felt Barkley has been critical of him since the former NBA great watched Cousins play in an Alabama high school state playoff game and talked to reporters.
Cousins also felt Barkley stuck up for Paul Westphal after the former Kings coach suspended Cousins for conduct detrimental to the team in 2012. Barkley played for Westphal in Phoenix.
When asked if Barkley is considered an authority because of his opinions on television, Cousins didn’t seem to agree.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s anybody of an authority,” Cousins said. “I would just say he is very comfortable on the television.”
