NBA legend Charles Barkely and Kevin Durant have exchanged pleasantries in the aftermath of the Brooklyn Nets’ elimination from the NBA playoffs.
Durant took exception to Barkley’s comments on TNT’s Inside the NBA following the game three loss before the Nets copped the final dagger in an embarrassing 4-0 series loss to the Boston Celtics.
Barkley said Durant was playing as if he was a “bus rider,” instead of a “bus driver” with the Nets and called into question his credentials as a champion after teaming up with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green at the Golden State Warriors.
“If you ain’t driving the bus, don’t walk around talkin’ ’bout you a champion,” Barkley said.
Durant hit back on social media posting posting pictures of the former MVP when he played for the Sixers and Rockets with his teammates, captioning one of the shots: “Where would Chuck be without the homies.”
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The message Durant was trying to express is that Barkley, who never won an NBA title during his career, jumped from team to team at the backend of his time in the league trying to win a championship.
The basketball Hall of Famer responded to Durant’s social media comeback from Barkley’s initial comments that he’s a “bus rider” amid the Celtics’ sweep of the Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
“See, you guys always talk about that championship stuff to me. I try to tell y’all: All these bus riders, they don’t mean nothin’ to me,” Barkley said. “If you ain’t drivin’ the bus, don’t walk around talkin’ bout you a champion. If you ridin’ the bus, I don’t wanna hear.
“You think they put that play-in banner up yet already,” Barkley added.
“I can put up stuff [on social media] about him, Russell [Westbrook] and James [Harden] and Serge Ibaka … KD [Kevin Durant] is a great player. The only point I was making: Life is different when you’re driving the bus.
“When I am in the room with the other Hall of Famers, I don’t get to the sit at their table,” Barkley said. “That’s the way it is … They are champions.”
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Shaquille O’Neal explained that “bus drivers means it is your team.”
On the latest episode of the popular show, host, Ernie Johnson surprised Barkley with the keys to his very own bus, which was labelled the “Chuck Wagon.”
“You’re the bus driver,” Johnson told Barkley while handing him the keys. “You gotta drive the bus. We’re done with the show tonight so you can take use home.”
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