Charles Barkley recently weighed in on the current situation in Cleveland, specifically Kyrie Irving's request to be traded from the Cavaliers because he's tired of paying under LeBron's shadow.
During his interview with NBATV, which you can watch below, Barkley says he thinks its "so stupid" that Kyrie wants to be "the man" rather than making the most of his opportunity to compete for an NBA title every year alongside LeBron James.
Per Bleacher Report,
"You want to be on a good team. You want to play with other great players. This notion where you want to be the man, I just think is so stupid," he said during an interview on NBA TV. "If I got a chance to play with another great player, I want to do that. The objective is to win."
"When he was on a bad team and he was the man, I guarantee you that wasn't a lot of fun for him," he continued. "And now you want to leave the best player in the world. And listen, I hear all of this stuff about how LeBron casts a big shadow. He should cast a big shadow."
"You wanna share the glory. You wanna win. Right now, there's only two, three, maybe four legitimate teams in the NBA," he concluded. "If you're not on one of those four or five teams, you're really just wasting your time for seven months. So I don't understand why you wouldn't want to play with LeBron. Listen, I wanna play with LeBron now!"
Barkley also explains how playing with any great player, citing Michael Jordan, Shaq or Larry Bird, means living under their shadow, but says that's just the price you should be willing to pay in order to compete for a ring.
Kyrie has reportedly requested a trade to either the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves or San Antonio Spurs, though the Cavs won't be trading him anywhere unless they're receiving a king's ransom in return, and rightfully so. Irving is still under contract with the team until 2020.
Check out Chuck's appearance on NBATV below.