Sunday night’s NBA All-Star Game featured a boisterous “ManningCast” spinoff, when Draymond Green and Charles Barkley trash-talked each other in front of the basketball crowd. The replacement cast, which is currently showing on truTV and Max, did not let fans down and even turned out some noteworthy bits.
Barkley once brought up the rumored trade interest in LeBron James by Golden State. Although information about the players the Warriors were willing to part with has not surfaced, Barkley believed it would have been “stupid” for Green’s team to trade Jonathan Kuminga for the elderly Lakers star.
“If the Lakers can get Klay (Thompson) and Kuminga for LeBron, they’d do that deal tomorrow,” Barkley said.
In response, Green—who is rumored to be close friends with Joe Lacob, the owner of the Warriors—seemed to offer some analysis on Golden State’s trade deadline package.
“Who said we were giving up Klay or Kuminga?” Green enquired. “…When I spoke to Joe on the phone and discussing what we had to give up, I said, ‘(If) it’s Kuminga, the answer is ‘No.'”
As the two guys continued to trade jabs later in the broadcast, Barkley made fun of the Warriors, who were certain to make the playoffs, warning Green to get ready for the inevitable. The former four-time NBA champion Green would use the well-worn “take my ring” line to make fun of Barkley for not having a ring.
Barkley said that if the Warriors miss the playoffs, Green might be back in the TNT booth in a few months. After his Warriors were eliminated from the playoffs in the second round the previous year, he took this action.
Nevertheless, the Warriors (27-26) managed to win eight of their previous ten games prior to the All-Star break, and they have a chance to rise in the rankings during the next months. They are presently ranked as the tenth seed.
