Charles Barkley’s angry Lakers rant includes praise for Stanley Johnson

NBA Legend Charles Barkley went on another infamous rant, criticizing the Los Angeles Lakers, while also praising former Wildcat, Stanley Johnson. 

Charles Barkley, a host of TNT’s NBA show, lost it on National TV talking about the Los Angeles Lakers with Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the hosts on the popular TV Show.

IYKYK stands for “If You Know, You Know”, and TNT’s unabashed and honest Hall of Fame analyst Barkley, called out two Lakers who are performing well on a recent broadcast; One was LeBron James the other was former Wildcat Stanley Johnson.

He misses the point that LeBron is too involved on the management side for the Lakers, in my opinion, as a lot is not done without his consent. Even so, it’s nice to hear props about our Arizona Wildcat.

Before a Suns game TNT on-court interview with Cameron Payne, Barkley was livid and he couldn’t be stopped on his tirade against Lakers management.

Chuck doesn’t believe it’s right to blame Lakers head coach Frank Vogel or point guard Russell Westbrook, and he called the organization “wussies” for doing just that. “The people up top that put that trash together, are running and hiding like cowards saying it’s Frank, it’s Russ. You put all those old geezers out there. Listen, the best guy other than LeBron, in the last month has been who? Stanley Johnson,” Barkley exclaimed.

Here is that short segment on TNT!

Here is the crazy timeline of Johnson’s NBA deals in the last few months:

• November 15, 2021: Signed with the Lakers G-League team, the South Bay Lakers.
• December 10, 2021: Signed a 10-day contract with the Chicago Bulls.
• December 24, 2021: Signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• January 6, 2022: Signed a 2nd 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• January 17, 2022: Signed a 3rd 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
• January 27, 2022: Signed a two-year deal, including a team option for 2022-2023.

Johnson’s stats thus far this season with the Lakers are impressive, as he is averaging 6.2 points, 1.4 assists, and 3.1 rebounds in 22 minutes played per game.

Season Tm G GS MP FG FG% 3P 3P% 2P 2P% TRB AST STL BLK PTS 2021-22 LAL 17 9 379 39 .481 13 .325 26 .634 52 24 12 8 106 Career 388 86 7695 885 .379 302 .299 583 .439 1206 556 336 94 2418

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/1/2022.

We’ve seen fans rag on Westbrook and Lakers head coach Vogel, and Chuck is 100 percent correct in calling it out. He is also correct when he says that it’s not their fault, the fault lies with the front office and their star who dictates almost everything that happens with the team from who the coach is to what players are on the team and how they’re used, as well as what plays are carried out on the court.

LeBron is the king of the Lakers, he got rid of Luke Walton when LeBron couldn’t bring a championship to the Lakers. It’s a lot of pressure to be the de facto GM, but he’s never blamed.

That said, any time a major broadcaster and hall of fame NBA player gives props to an Arizona Wildcat, we think it’s worth letting Wildcats fans know about it. We agree with Barkley in this instance.