Charles Barkley Believes Kevin Durant Is Trying To 'Cheat' His Way To A Championship

Much of the fallout from Kevin Durant’s Monday decision to sign with the Golden State Warriors has centered around the new league-wide perception of Durant.

Entering his 10th NBA season without a championship, the superstar’s dash to the Warriors to join fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and create a potential dynasty has split opinion among NBA observers: Durant is either lame for creating a Warriors “Big Four” or sensible for joining the best team possible.

Rather unexpectedly, the ever-controversial NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, who never won a championship during his playing days (Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls stomped out those dreams), has a serious gripe with Durant’s move to the Warriors. His anti-Super Team attitude, which is one that Jordan concurs with, is simple: “Don’t you want to compete?”

As seen in the video above, Barkley explained on ESPN radio’s “Mike and Mike” on Wednesday morning why his own ring-chasing career move was different than Durant’s dastardly dynasty-building decision:

I’m pretty sure Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and John Stockton ― we think we’re pretty damn good. We could have played with some of those other guys and kind of cheated our way to a championship. But there is this thing that started with this new generation where these guys feel so much pressure. Everybody wants to win ...

That is my problem. Listen, if you get traded, you get traded, but when you get together and say, “Let’s dominate the league and try to cheat your way to a championship.”

“Cheat” is obviously the wrong word to use here, as Durant is not literally cheating, but Barkley has never been one to mince opinions. While Barkley’s hot take on Durant is lukewarm and rather contrarian, the overriding feelings surrounding Durant’s decision aren’t: Does Kevin Durant’s new spot on the Warriors feel unfair? Yeah, of course it does!

But is it dishonest, wrong or bad? Not really.