Charles Barkley once called upon the NBA to ban Chinese players until a $36,000,000 spy plane was returned to the US
NBA legend Charles Barkley has always displayed a bold demeanor, be it with his words or actions. The former MVP once opined that former Dallas Mavericks player Wang Zhizhi should be banned from the NBA until China returned one of the USA's spy planes.
Barkley's thoughts on banning Zhizhi were highlighted again when he was aiming to run as the governer of Alabama as a Republican. In an archived article from Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum, he questioned Barkley's antics as a TV analyst and if he could carry a serious role in politics. Here's what McCallum wrote:
"The question to ponder about Charles Barkley is this: Can a man this funny really have anything serious on his mind? Or maybe it's this: Are we willing to listen if he does?"
"In his role as the supersized boiling teapot of TNT's Halftime Report, maybe the best studio sports show ever.... [Barkley] opined that the Dallas Mavericks' Wang Zhizhi should not be permitted to play in the NBA until China returned that captured U.S. spy plane."
Fans who have followed Barkley's work as an analyst would know there are two polar opposite personalities. One that sees him break all boundaries to entertain audiences and another that's him being serious and brutally honest about what he intends to say.
This unfiltered nature of Barkley has made him a crowd favorite at times and seen him fall deep into controversies that spanned during and after his stories NBA career.
Charles Barkley dismissed the idea of running as governor
Charles Barkley announced in 2008 that he would run for governor of Alabama in 2014, but he changed his mind two years later. He never pursued that goal again. In 2020, Barkley slammed the Democratic and Republican parties while claiming he doesn't want to run for governor again. Here's what he told ESPN's Zach Lowe:
“I’m not going to do the governor thing... I think both of these parties are crap. They do nothing for actual people. The Democrats and Republicans are both full of crap. You see now with this pandemic. They aren’t doing anything for these people.”
Barkley has continued his gig on TNT since then. He even signed a lucrative extension last offseason, signing a 10-year deal worth $100 million. TNT's job has kept him close to the NBA post-retirement, and Barkley seems to embrace the job he has over other interests.
Also read: Charles Barkley once called Monica Lewinsky a 'skank' during his early days on Inside the NBA