On Wednesday, the sports media world got shaken up by a bombshell report that Shannon Sharpe had worked out a buyout with Fox Sports to leave Undisputed with Skip Bayless after the NBA Finals conclude this month.
Sharpe has worked opposite Bayless for seven years, but there have been a few signs of friction over the past year, most notably after Bayless’ insensitive tweet about Damar Hamlin’s collapse during Monday Night Football and then Sharpe getting heated over a “personal shot” he didn’t appreciate from Skip during an argument about Tom Brady.
With that as the backdrop, late in the night in Denver after Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Charles Barkley recognized another opportunity to troll Skip, who is maybe the person Chuck hates the most in the entire world. After coming back from press conference coverage on NBA TV, Barkley went on a tangent about how the Warner bosses were in Denver and he read something on Bleacher Report, with no one understanding where he was going until he got to the punchline (that he was very proud of) of saying “if you work with a damn idiot, they’ll buy you out.”
Charles Barkley says he gets all his news from Bleacher Report and he read an article that says if you work with a damn idiot they’ll buy you out, so he wants Turner to know he’s open to the buyout because he works with Kenny pic.twitter.com/mCuiVy03Gb
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) June 2, 2023
Charles: “I did find out something. .. .I read an article today, if you work with a damn idiot, they’ll buy you out. I’m saying, I read it.”
Shaq [cackling]: “Chuck. Chuck. Stop.”
Charles: “Shaq, it’s not you. It’s not you [Grant Hill] and it’s not you [Matt Winer]. It’s not Ernie. But apparently if you work with a damn idiot they’ll buy you out. So, I just want you to know, I’m open to the buyout. I didn’t know it was that easy.”
Shaq, knowing immediately what Chuck was doing, tried his best to stop him from saying something wild, but Chuck was already rolling and Shaq himself couldn’t stop laughing. Charles will never miss an opportunity to troll Bayless and this one might’ve been the proudest he’s ever been of one — look at the face he makes when he delivers the punchline.