Barkley: Klay the best all-around player after LeBron
File away another quote to Charles Barkley's chin-scratching catalog.
Barkley proclaimed during TNT's broadcast Tuesday that he likes Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson as second-best to LeBron James.
Charles Barkley says that Klay Thompson is the second best player in the world after LeBron James pic.twitter.com/8xki1E3Y1C
— nbaayy (@nbaayy) October 25, 2016
"Klay Thompson is the best all-around player other than LeBron James in the NBA," Barkley said, before adding that Kawhi Leonard is "right there."
What gives Thompson the edge over Leonard, in Barkley's estimation, is on the offensive end.
However, the two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year is unquestionably a better stopper, and might even be better on offense. Leonard was just one of four players last season to average more than 21 points per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the field.
And that's to say nothing of the last two MVP winners in Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who also have a claim to being tops in the league.
Leonard scored 35 points on 11-of-21 shooting in San Antonio's 29-point drubbing of Golden State, while Thompson had 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting.