Charles Barkley Insists LeBron James Isn't A Top-5 Player Of All Time

Did you watch the NBA Finals, Sir Charles?

LeBron James is great, just not that great.

That seems to be the familiar refrain from NBA analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, who once again denied James a place among the highest immortals of the game.

In a visit with Bill Simmons on HBO's "Any Given Wednesday," Barkley listed his top five NBA players of all-time -- Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain -- and said James would never crack the list because his top five will never change. He's publicly left James out of his top five before.

We figure James is probably blocking the noise like:

But ...

That Barkley won't even consider including LBJ is perplexing. Perhaps Barkley had his eyes closed while James carried the Cavaliers on his giant shoulders to the championship to earn a third NBA Finals MVP award.

Barkley did allow that James belongs in the top 10, but, nope, certainly not in the top five; ergo, not in the top three either.

“I’m not going to just move him past Tim Duncan and Kobe. They didn’t just die," Barkley said. "But I will say this about LeBron James: I’ve never seen a man coming out of high school who has handled the success, been a great player, never got in a stitch of trouble. It’s probably been the greatest career ever."

Before You Go

Cleveland Cavaliers 2016 NBA Champions

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