“Call Me Champ”: Charles Barkley Beats Years of Taunts, Declares Himself a Champion On Inside the NBA

Charles Barkley may have gotten the right to call himself a champion years after years of ridicule for not having any rings. The Inside the NBA crew has always picked on Barkley for being the only player without any championships under his belt. But when the opportunity arrived, Barkley ended up challenging Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith and coming out victorious.

The Inside the NBA crew was hosting the halftime report between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. And all of a sudden, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith got up to race each other to the screen in the back.

As the two NBA legends were racing to the screen, it was Charles Barkley who ended up coming out on top. And after years of being ridiculed and picked on, Barkley showed absolutely no grace in victory.

After winning the race, Barkley did not hesitate in gloating his recent victory over Smith. As Smith was talking to Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson, Barkley quickly interrupted them and said, “Don’t call me Chuck, call me Champ.”

The official X page of NBA on TNT even retweeted the post with a slow-motion video of the race between Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith and Charles Barkley.

But Barkley calling himself a ‘champ’ is ironic, given that Sir Charles has not won any championships during his playing career and has no rings to show for it. Regardless, it was nice to see Barkley get to brag about something for a change.

Charles Barkley is finally a champion… kind of

For those of you who are unaware, Charles Barkley is the only host on the Inside the NBA panel who does not have any rings. Shaquille O’Neal has four rings whereas Kenny ‘The Jet’ Smith has two rings under his belt when he played for the Houston Rockets.

And this is something both Shaq and Kenny always end up throwing in Charles Barkley’s face whenever they get the chance. They even end up bringing his no-championship career out of the blue with no related context. But it is all in good fun.

So, for Barkley to win this race and demand to be called a champ may be his way of vindication of sorts. Because there is no way that Sir Charles ever wins a ring as a player now. Although, he could if he ended up on the sidelines, coaching a team in the league. But that too is a longshot that Barkley is not likely to pursue.