During the Inside the NBA halftime show of the Warriors-Pelicans game on Tuesday, Charles Barkley seemed to be really annoyed after seeing a clip of Draymond Green and Rajon Rondo in each other’s faces right after the half time buzzer.
“I just want somebody to punch him in the face,” Barkley said of Green. “I really do, I want somebody to punch him in the face. I want to punch him in the face so badly. I’m telling you, I want to punch his ass in the face, I do. You asked me a question I gave you an answer.”
Charles Barkley really wants Rajon Rondo to punch Draymond Green in the face pic.twitter.com/7CFX536Kl2
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) May 2, 2018
After the game, Green was asked about Barkley’s comments and didn’t mince words.
“I think a lot of guys talk on TV, stand behind a microphone and TV screen,” Green said. “The fact of the matter is if you feel that strongly about something — he’s seen me a million times — if you feel that strongly about it then punch me in my face when you see me. If you’re not gonna punch me in my face when you see me then shut up. It’s no different than somebody sitting behind a computer screen tweeting ‘I’ll knock you out’ and you never see them in life. Well he’s seen me a bunch of times and he’ll see me again this year. Punch me in the face when you see me and if not, no one cares what you would’ve done. You’re old and it is what it is. If you ain’t gonna punch me when you see me stop talking about it.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Barkley apologized for his comments about Green during a hit with ESPN Radio, saying he didn’t expect people to take his comments literally.
“I want to apologize to Draymond Green,” Barkley said. “I wasn’t literally going to fight an NBA player, and if he took it like that I apologize. Just because I said something that I shouldn’t have said, I want to be man enough to apologize because I was 100 percent wrong.
“I didn’t mean it literally, and if people want to make it out literally that I’m going to fight an NBA player, that’s unfortunate. But I want to apologize to Draymond and that’s it my brother.”
When asked if he was just trying to make a joke, Barkley said he wasn’t.
“No, he’s annoying man, I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was wrong for saying it, but I wasn’t trying to be funny.
“I didn’t think literally people were going to think I was going to try and fight the guy. First of all, I’m pretty sure I’ve said the same thing about Dennis Rodman, but I probably actually did punch him when we played. Same thing with (Bill) Laimbeer. There’s guys who are irritants who are all good players, but they can be annoying at times.
“Like I said, I was wrong for saying it and I shouldn’t have said it.”
Barkley was then asked what specifically annoys him about Green.
“(The Pelicans) don’t guard him because they are guarding everybody else on the team, and he makes a three and he starts yelling at the coach, because you know in the scouting report, you know they say ‘hey, let’s defend their shooters as much as possible,’” Barkley said. “Then when he misses he doesn’t say anything, but every time he makes one he starts screaming at the coach on the other bench, it just makes me laugh.”
Barkley closed by saying he’s not planning on reaching out to Green personally.
“No, but I’ll probably apologize on the show tonight. We’re not going to have fisticuffs. I probably shouldn’t have said it. I meant it, but I probably shouldn’t have said it. I man enough to admit that I shouldn’t have said it. I really wasn’t that overly concerned about it, I’m still not overly concerned about it.”