Barkley: 'More power to Draymond for slapping the hell out of that kid'
Charles Barkley's opinions are rarely a surprise, so when he heard of Draymond Green's weekend arrest for allegedly assaulting a heckling fan in Michigan, he chimed in.
"Good for Draymond Green," Barkley told ESPN's Dan Le Batard, before pointing some of the blame at Le Batard and others in the media. "You and these other idiots in the press have given these fools powers to tweet and say anything they want to about these professional players.
"Y'all have given these fans a voice where they think they can disrespect these players because of the amount of money they make and things like that. So more power to Draymond for slapping the hell out of that kid, or whoever he was."
None of this, of course, is remotely surprising coming from Barkley. While he was still playing in the NBA in 1997, the now-Hall of Famer threw a fan through a bar window for harassing him.
"If you bother me, I'm going to whip your ass," Barkley said at the time. "The guy threw ice in my face, and I slammed his ass into the window. I'm not denying that. I defended myself. He got what he deserved.''
When the judge in the case asked Barkley if he had any regrets, he replied: "Yeah, I regret we were on the first floor."