Charles Barkley is easily one of the most hilarious characters in the history of the NBA. He always has some funny stories to tell and isn’t shy to give his very honest truth about everything that is happening in the league. Barkley is a legend in his own right as he started his career with the Philadelphia 76ers and eventually moved on to the Phoenix Suns.

During his stint with the 76ers, Barkley was looking to be traded and at one point, it seemed likely that he would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers. While appearing on The Lowe podcast, Barkley admitted that his agent told him a deal to L.A. had been finalized, only to fall through later that day. Barkley jumped the gun and started celebrating with some drinks before being told that he had to play with the 76ers that night. Needless to say, he played a game while drunk.

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Per Barkley:

“My agent calls me one morning and he says ‘hey, you’re going to get traded to the Lakers today.’ And me and my friends, we go out and celebrate and get drunk around noon…. He calls me later and says ‘hey you’ve been traded to the Lakers, they’re going to finalize the deal and I’ll get back to you.’ I’m on cloud nine, he calls me back three hours later, it’s like 3:30 now, he says ‘the Sixers backed out of the deal.’ And I’m drunk as [bleeped expletive] and we got a game that night, and I’m like ‘what? What are you talking about?’ And he’s like ‘the Sixers were scared to pull the trigger.’ So I’m like ‘you’re kidding me, dude we got a game tonight and I’ve been drinking since noon.’ The one thing that’s funny, I don’t even know how I played that night. I think I might have played so bad because I was so angry the Sixers didn’t pull the trigger, and then it’s just suffering the next two or three years.”

This is easily one of the best stories Barkley has given us over the years and you really have to feel for the guy. Anybody would be celebrating that hard after a trade to the Lakers.

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No player has become a bigger hater in retirement than Paul Pierce. Of course, Pierce needed Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to come to the Boston Celtics to even do anything in the playoffs, but for some reason, he still has a vendetta against LeBron James for joining the Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Pierce, who acts like his Celtics won three-straight, has been launching a full-on assault against LeBron as he looks to discredit him at every turn. In fact, Pierce recently said LeBron wasn't a top 5 player all time.

Today, Pierce was back to his old ways as he said the Miami Heat underachieved and that one of James' championships was only won because of Allen. While some of the facts he presented are true, you can't help but feel that Pierce is obsessed with putting LeBron down.

Ever since March 11th, we have been without NBA basketball. Of course, the league infamously shut down due to Rudy Gobert getting infected with the Coronavirus. Since then, over a million people in the United States have been infected with the virus and the NBA is still looking at ways that it can safely return to action. While it may not be coming back right away, there have been reports suggesting that we could see the return of basketball as soon as July 15th.

As far as the playoffs are concerned, there doesn't seem to be a concrete plan in place. Stephen A. Smith took to First Take this morning with an interesting idea in which he suggested the NBA go for the NCAA route. Essentially, since the league will only be playing in one or two cities, they should eliminate conferences and instead have the first seed play the 16th seed. 

Ever since he entered the NBA in 2003, LeBron James has been compared to Michael Jordan. There are many young fans out there who think LeBron is the GOAT while others seem to think that MJ is the undisputed greatest of all time. Thanks to "The Last Dance" documentary, the MJ-LeBron comparisons have ramped up and have become an unhealthy obsession for many people.

In a recent interview, Charles Barkley attempted to shut these comparisons down as he spoke on LeBron and who he should really be likened to. As he explains, Magic Johnson is a better comparison while Kobe Bryant is the man who is closer to MJ.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks were heavy favorites to win the NBA championship prior to the entire season being shut down due to the Coronavirus. Of course, Giannis is one of the best players in the entire game right now and there is a real chance that he wins MVP again. It’s clear that he could sniff a championship on the horizon, however, we will never truly know until the season actually comes back, which could be as soon as July 15th.

In a recent interview, Giannis revealed that he already had big plans for a championship party. In fact, he planned on taking the whole team to Greece had they won. Of course, this type of celebration is still on the table should things go his way.

“Before all this happened with COVID-19, I was talking about taking the team on a trip to Greece in Mykonos,” Antetokounmpo said “Mykonos is one of the best islands in Greece, it’s a party island. You cannot go there with your significant other, you got to be by yourself. It’s got to be a boys’ trip. Obviously, we have Santorini, Santorini’s really romantic. It has the best sunset and sunrise in the world. You can take your significant other there. I had the opportunity to go last year – I went with (Eric) Bledsoe and Brook (Lopez) to Mykonos – and I was kind of sad I wasn’t able to bring the whole team to experience what we went through. So definitely, I think, after we win the championship and we’re holding the trophy and we’re all smoking a cigar like M.J., we can all do that in Mykonos.”

While it may be a while before the team can travel in such a manner, we’re sure they will be very excited if and when they win the Chip.

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Kobe Bryant is undeniably one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. Unfortunately, Bryant passed away almost four months ago in a tragic helicopter accident that claimed the life of his daughter and seven others. Since then, numerous NBA players have posted tributes in Kobe’s honor and it has become abundantly clear that Bryant’s legacy will live on well past this current generation of players.

Just yesterday, Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson took to Instagram with a small tribute to Kobe. As you can see from the post below, Thompson reminisced about a Kobe skills camp he got to attend while he was in high school. In the post, Thompson makes sure to let people know that Kobe is the greatest of all time.

“One of the greatest experiences of my life was being able to participate in the goats ? skills academy back in HS,” Thompson wrote. “I was so star struck the whole time and couldn’t believe I was on the same hardwood as Bean.”

Clearly, the skills camp worked out quite well for Thompson as he has blossomed into one of the best shooters in the NBA. Kobe would certainly be proud to see him on the court right now.

Sad news is coming out of the basketball world today as it was reported that legendary Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan has passed away at the age of 78. Sloan had been battling Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, which are ultimately the causes for his passing.

Sloan is a beloved figure when it comes to Utah Jazz basketball. He coached the team from 1988 all the way until 2011 and he helped them get to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. If you have been watching “The Last Dance,” you would know that he was heavily featured in the final two episodes of the series. Today, the Utah Jazz released a statement where they paid homage to Sloan’s contributions.

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Per Jazz:

“Jerry Sloan will always be synonymous with the Utah Jazz. He will forever be a part of the Utah Jazz organization and we join his family, friends and fans in mourning his loss. We are so thankful for what he accomplished here in Utah and the decades of dedication, loyalty and tenacity he brought to our franchise. 

“Our Hall of Fame coach for 23 years, Jerry had a tremendous impact on the Jazz franchise as expressed by his banner hanging in the arena rafters. His 1,223 Jazz coaching wins, 20 trips to the NBA Playoffs and two NBA Finals appearances are remarkable achievements. His hard-nosed approach only made him more beloved. Even after his retirement, his presence at Jazz games always brought a roaring response from the crowd.”

Sloan will certainly go down as a legend and one of the most accomplished coaches in the history of the NBA.

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Bradley Beal may very well be one of the most underrated players in the entire NBA and it mostly has to do with the fact that he plays for the Washington Wizards. The Wizards have been abysmal as of late although Beal has been their one bright spot. He is currently averaging 30.5 points per game and is easily one of the most prolific scorers in the Eastern Conference right now. Of course, the Wizards are keen on keeping him but Beal has been wishy-washy on signing longterm.

According to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, there appears to be some heavy interest for Beal, coming from the Brooklyn Nets. Stars like Kyrie Irving have made it clear that the team could use some reinforcements for when he and Kevin Durant finally get to pair up next season. With this in mind, the Nets are rumored to be exploring ways to get Beal on their team, so that they can form a brand new Big 3.

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A team with Beal, Irving, and Durant would certainly become title contenders instantly. These are some of the best offensive players in the league and the Nets would become one of the most formidable backcourts in the Eastern Conference.

Only time will tell whether or not this comes to fruition.

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Thanks to the ESPN documentary "The Last Dance," a whole generation of basketball players are now being made privy to the incredible talents of none other than Michael Jordan. Of course, most adults see Jordan as the greatest player of all time, however, many young stars never got to see MJ play. This doc allowed the young ones to finally get a glimpse at just how amazing MJ truly was throughout his numerous championship runs.

One of the players who was convinced of MJ's greatness was none other than Ja Morant. In a recent interview with Taylor Rooks, Morant admitted that he didn't know much about Jordan although the documentary made him realize that he is the true GOAT. As Morant explained, he used to think it was LeBron but now his mind has been successfully changed.

Ever since the Coronavirus pandemic entered our lives, sports fans have been hungry for what they have been missing out on. Not having sports in your life can be tough and it's certainly been a very difficult few months for fans all around the world. One of the sports that people have been dying to have come back is basketball and the NBA. We were in the midst of a pretty fun season and people want to see how it will all end. 

The NBA has been working on various return scenarios and there has been speculation as to when things will go back to normal. Today, Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets appeared to leak some interesting information, as he claimed that the NBA would be returning on July 15th and that there would be five regular-season games played. He noted that these games will be played at a bubble site and that practices will be allowed to start on June 21st.