Charles Barkley Roasted Lakers With Savage Dig Amid Tense Playoff Series vs. Nuggets

NBA analyst Charles Barkley has been known to deliver some absolute zingers on-air, and his latest savage quip about the Los Angeles Lakers organization yet again turned heads.

Ahead of Game 2 of the Lakers-Denver Nuggets playoff series, Barkley gave his thoughts on the state of this year’s Lakers team and particularly took issue with the way Los Angeles handled Game 1’s loss this past weekend.

“One thing you can always count on with the Lakers, they’re gonna throw somebody under the bus when they lose,” Barkley said on Monday. “Going back to Russell Westbrook, going back to Frank Vogel, now I guess it’s D’Angelo Russell.”

Chuck: “One thing you can always count on with the Lakers, they gon’ throw somebody under the bus when they lose.” pic.twitter.com/oQNHBbtE4a

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 22, 2024

Barkley continued, “I didn’t like the way they called D’Angelo out after Game 1, the kid’s not trying to miss shots. [The Nuggets] are beating them in every aspect of the game.”

Barkley ended on the resounding sentiment that the Nuggets are simply “a better team” than the Lakers, which most NBA fans would agree with after the series opener. Russell’s poor shooting performance aside (he went 6-of-20 from the field and 1-of-9 from deep), five Nuggets players finished with double-digit points in Saturday’s 114–103 win over the Lakers. Toward the end of the game, several Lakers players looked visibly exhausted and unable to keep up with Denver’s fast-paced offense. 

The Lakers will look to tie the series against the Nuggets at Ball Arena at 10 p.m. ET on Monday.