Charles Barkley had a lot to say about Jayson Tatum on the ESPN Stanley Cup Final Broadcast, regardless of only being on the broadcast for a few minutes.
Barkley joined ESPN’s halftime show to talk about Ondrej Palat’s goal for the Lightning in the first half of Game 3, Monday night, among other details. During the discussion and his analysis of the goal, which pushed the Lightning to their first lead of the series so far, Barkley took the time to roast Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum a little less than a week after the team’s NBA finals loss.
Barkley said, “This is a regular old Jayson Tatum turnover. I’m sorry. I’m just joking…I love you, Jayson Tatum. I’m just joking! Listen, that’s just a heck of a goal and a heck of a goal. I love you, Jayson Tatum. I’m just joking.”
Hockey fans absolutely loved the dig at Tatum and Barkley’s appearance on the broadcast and took to social media to express their thoughts.
One fan by the username of @nastyaovechkin says, “Charles Barkley just casually saying, ‘so I called up Gary Bettman and said’ gimme two seats’ like he’s in ticket sales.”
Another fan by the username of @FlyersPuckSauce says, “Charles Barkley is the best thing about ESPN hockey coverage by a mile if you want to know how bad the hockey guys are.”
Another wrote, “I’m not entirely sure why Charles Barkley is a Stanley Cup intermission desk, but I’m kind of here for it.”
Although Barkley is not too knowledgeable when it comes to being a Hockey analyst, he did what he knew best by “throwing shade” at the heavily criticized performance during the NBA Finals by Jayson Tatum’s team in the playoffs.
