"I want all the smoke": Charles Barkley boldly challenges Austin Reaves to a Golf match in Oklahoma next summer
Aside from showcasing two high-stakes matches, the NBA In-Season Tournament's semi-finals also featured a crossover between Charles Barkley and the "Inside the NBA" crew and Stephen A. Smith's "NBA Countdown". As soon as the two broadcast teams went live, chaos and hilarity ensued.
The two groups made jokes with each other, took the time to engage in some friendly banter, and at one point, Barkley even jokingly threatened to beat up ESPN's Stephen A.
However, one of the more interesting things that took place during the broadcast occurred exclusively on the side of TNT's "Inside the NBA" when Charles Barkley challenged LA Lakers guard Austin Reaves to a game.
Although the challenge he extended was not for a basketball game. Instead, it's for a round of golf:
"Austin Reaves, I want all the smoke," Barkley said at one point during the broadcast. "I'll come to Oklahoma, I'll come anywhere, I'll come to LA but it's too crowded in LA. I wanna come to Oklahoma this summer, I wanna play you, you're a scratch golfer. Give me 4 and 4, and it is on!"
Both Reaves and Barkley are well-known to enjoy golf but while the former is known to have a good swing, Barkley is infamous for not being very good so a game between the two will certainly be interesting should Austin Reaves respond to the challenge.
Also read: "Credit for jumping off the Titanic before it sunk": Charles Barkley ridicules Warriors by praising Bob Myers for leaving team.
Charles Barkley used to play golf with Michael Jordan
While the two were rivals on the court, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan would spend time playing golf together. During an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show which took place back in 2017, Barkley talked about what it was like to play golf with Jordan.
It turns out that just like everything that Jordan did, playing golf became a very competitive affair since money was always involved. However, the amount that they played for was no joke as one hole could apparently become worth several hundred thousand dollars when His Airness was involved.
However, Barkley did say that the amount of money that was bet on those golf matches was "chump change."
With the amount of money that Jordan made throughout his career and with the amount that he is making now through his various business ventures, a few hundred thousand is probably considered a small amount. But with how competitive Michael Jordan is, he probably did not lose too often, and even if he did lose one, he would not have let it go so easily.
Also read: Fans react as Dana White hilariously steps in to settle Shaquille O’Neal vs. Charles Barkley beef in Power Slap.