WATCH: Charles Barkley hysterically fumbles as Gayle King puts him in a spot with Steve Kerr over 'cooked' Warriors comments
An earlier comment from NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has NBA fans divided. In a recent episode of Inside the NBA, he mentioned that the Golden State Warriors are in trouble after starting the season with an 8-10 record. He cited the age of their stars and said that they are now entering the natural decline that athletes experience once they're in their mid-to-late thirties.
He also pointed out that the Warriors were already at this stage last season and merely got lucky in the postseason against the Sacramento Kings, mostly thanks to Steph Curry.
Barkley was initially only able to share his points with co-hosts Candace Parker, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson, but later got a chance to repeat it to Steve Kerr as well.
In an interview, Barkley was reminded of the comments that he made about the Warriors by Gayle King as they were speaking with Kerr. King pointed out that Barkley made a post about the Warriors claiming they were cooked, after which the NBA legend appeared to have lost his words for a moment.
Watch the hilarious moment where Barkley makes a hilarious attempt to defend himself:
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What were Charles Barkley's initial comments about the Golden State Warriors?
This season, the Golden State Warriors have one of the oldest cores in the league with Draymond Green and Klay Thompson both being 33 years old, with Curry entering the late stages of his career at 35. Factor in the fact that they added Chris Paul, who is already 38, and fans are looking at a collection of the oldest stars in a single team.
Charles Barkley acknowledged this fact on Inside the NBA and here is what he had to say.
"I told y'all this team is cooked," Barkley said about the Warriors."Y'all thought I was crazy. They got away last year because Steph went crazy in Game 7."
He said, recalling Game 7 of the first round in last year's postseason when Steph Curry went off for 50 points, eight rebounds, and six assists:
"Steph, he's gonna start slowing down, too," Barkley added. "They've got an old team and everybody slows down...This team is cooked, they're not a contender."
The early part of this season appears to be a low point for the Golden State Warriors. They recently lost defensive stalwart Gary Payton II to an injury, while everyone except Steph Curry appears to be struggling.
Klay Thompson is shooting under 40% from downtown for the first time in his career, Andrew Wiggins is only averaging 12.8 points per game and Chris Paul is averaging less than ten points per game for his career.