"He's gonna play half the games" - Charles Barkley takes a hilarious dig at John Stockton for his stance on vaccination while drafting his NBA 75 team
The NBA on TNT hosted the "Ultimate 75 NBA Draft" on Saturday evening, with Charles Barkley as one of the eight GMs. He was paired up with his fellow Inside the NBA crew members Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith. The trio had to put together a roster comprised of players from the league's top 75-anniversary team.
Hilarity usually ensues when the Inside the NBA crew gets together, and that's exactly what happened when Barkley refused to draft John Stockton to his team. Barkley's reasoning behind not picking Stockton revolves around the latter's anti-vaccination status.
"No we can't (take) Stockton, he's gonna play half the games," said Barkley, while discussing his options with Kenny Smith."
"He's gonna play half the games."
- Chuck didn't wanna draft John Stockton 😅 https://t.co/JBkpjq5PK8
There are certain cities like New York, Toronto and San Francisco where unvaccinated players are not allowed to play. Kyrie Irving is the most notable NBA star that has been available for around half the games for his side this season.
The Nets star's refusal to get vaccinated for Covid-19 has led to him being ineligible to play the team's home games due to the state's vaccine mandates.
Despite the Ultimate NBA 75 Draft being a hypothetical one, Charles Barkley decided to show his support for the vaccination mandates by hilariously refusing to pick Stockton in his team. Barkley and the crew ended up drafting the 1990 Finals MVP Isiah Thomas instead.
Listing Charles Barkley and Inside the NBA crew's full team
The NBA 75 ultimate draft featured eight groups of GMs. Jerry West, Su Bird, Quavo, Dominique Wilkins and DL Hughley went solo. Meanwhile, the Inside the NBA Crew team was without Ernie Jackson, who was the acting commissioner for this draft.
The other TNT draft selection groups included the usual on-air crew, as well as Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker and Adam Lefkoe. While the eighth team featured reporters Chris Haynes and Shams Charania.
Each team had to draft ten players each. By the end, a special algorithm would determine which GM group picked the best team. Charles Barkley and co. had plenty of disagreements over their team and could only achieve a sixth-place finish by the end of the draft.
They picked Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with their first pick, followed by Dwyane Wade, Clyde Drexler, Isiah Thomas, Dave Cowens, Reggie Miller, Bob McAdoo, Nate Archibald, Wes Unseld and Billy Cunningham.
The other Inside the NBA crew that featured Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker and Adam Lefkoe ended up as the winners of the draft, tallying 976 points as per the algorithm that decided which group had drafted the best team.