Charles Barkley believes recent behaviour from NBA players could lead to a lockout.
Barkley pointed to players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving earning max money and then ditching their team when the going gets it tough, saying it was the sort of thing that the NBA would insist on stamping out in the next collective bargaining agreement.
“You can’t take all my money, then say, ‘Hey, I want a divorce,’” Barkely told reporters at All-Star Weekend in Utah. “So, I’m pretty sure that’s the next thing that’s gonna come out of the CBA. I have no doubt in my mind that these guys are gonna get locked out.
“Y’all baby these dudes so much today,” Barkley continued. “They don’t want to play back-to-back games. Every time a fan says something, they get them tossed. If they’re not happy, they want to get traded. It’s going to come to a head in the next CBA.”
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will meet about the current collective bargaining agreement on March 31 with the hopes of negotiating a new deal.
The NBA’s seven-year CBA expires after the 2023-24 season.
That hasn’t happened since the 2011-12 season, where there were no games played for 161 days, resulting in the season being shortened to 66 games and not starting until Christmas Day.