Klay Thompson: “I’m not going to rush back to try and go to a sixth straight Finals if I’m not 100%, because I think our window to win another championship is open for the next five or six years.”
Charles Barkley: “I hope you get back soon but you’re just wrong. That window is shut. They can’t score enough. I was wrong before the game; I said the Warriors were going to be the 7 or 8 seed. They’re not going to make the playoffs."
Klay: “Chuck has a right to be pessimistic but I think these young guys are going to step up… I think we got enough guys to get us there.”
Charles Barkley is often known for some of his nutty antics off the court, but he’s also one of the most intelligent and expository analysts on television who has a unique style of analyzing the game in much more intimate and unadulterated specifics that both an NBA player and average basketball fan could equally comprehend.
Unlike most sports analysts who rely on token banter and clichéd breakdowns, however, Barkley refreshingly and sometimes defiantly goes against the grain of what is ‘expected’ on television.
Golden State Warriors All-Star forward Klay Thompson found that out the hard way during Thursday’s ‘Inside The NBA’ halftime show.
Thompson was explaining how his rehab was going from a torn ACL that he suffered in Game 6 of last year’s NBA Finals, explaining to the TNT cast of Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith, and Candace Parker how he’s not going to ‘rush’ back because he believes there is a five or six year ‘championship window’ still there for his Warriors team.
Barkley quickly intercepted the comments, saying that Finals window was ‘shut’, and adding that the Warriors aren’t going to make the playoffs.
The Warriors would lose their opener in humiliating fashion to the Clippers, 141-122.
Check out the uncomfortable exchange above.