PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- If you nearly fell out of your chair, dropped your smart phone or did a double-take after reading the headline above, let me say from the jump: There is more context to Charles Barkley's halftime comments from Thursday night.
"If Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons dominate, they’re not Shaq and Kobe, but they’re Shaq-and-Kobe-like. They gonna be a serious problem for anybody they play against," Barkley said on TNT as the 76ers were beating Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks.
It's the kind of comment that makes you wonder if you heard him correctly.
Not that Embiid, almost 27 years old, and Simmons, 24, aren’t excellent young players who can one day win championships, but Shaquille O’Neal and the late, great Kobe Bryant are Hall of Famers who orchestrated a Los Angeles Lakers dynasty at the beginning of the century with three NBA titles in a row.
Former NBA player and two-time champ Kenny Smith jumped in.
"I’m just asking you a question, Shaq: Will you allow him to say that they are 'Shaq-and-Kobe-like'?" Smith said.
O'Neal — several yards and three transparent COVID-19 separators away from Barkley — had no verbal response. He just took a couple sips of what looked like tea.
"What I meant by it is, those guys are gonna be a problem every single night," Barkley said.
He was responding to a question from TNT's NBA host Ernie Johnson about the Sixers' bench, which (before scoring 46 points in Thursday’s 111-97 victory over Dallas) had been struggling and considered a weakness for this team. The question wasn't even about Embiid or Simmons, but Barkley's response indicates that he believes the Sixers' success starts and ends with its two young stars.
Barkley maintains that the Sixers (22-11) are his favorites to win the Eastern Conference. They haven't done that in 20 years. In fact, the 76ers haven’t made it past the second round of the playoffs since Hall of Famer Allen Iverson’s magical 2000-01 MVP season.
"I watch Philly play a lot," Barkley said on TNT’s "NBA Tip-Off" prior to the start of Sixers-Mavs. "To me, they’re still the team to beat in the East."
Barkley says he is particularly impressed with Embiid’s conditioning and determination to dominate this season. And while he strongly advises that Simmons start adding a jumper to his versatile repertoire, he recognizes Simmons' defensive reputation.
The Sixers became Barkley’s favorite in January after the Houston Rockets traded James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets instead of the Sixers, presumably for a return highlighted by Simmons. Only a week prior, Barkley had said he wasn’t going to overreact to the Sixers' fast start, showing how quickly things can change in sports opinion and entertainment.
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Fast-forward a month and a half, and Barkley is sticking with the Sixers, even though Brooklyn is only a half-game behind them, and Milwaukee is only two games behind, for first place in the East.
The Nets are also playing much better and doing so without one-third of their big three, Kevin Durant, due to a hamstring injury. Harden, Kyrie Irving and the Nets cast of role players are on an eight-game winning streak, with Durant playing in only one of those games. However — despite Brooklyn’s surge, Barkley doesn’t believe they have enough size to deal with Embiid.
Neither team is at the halfway point of their seasons, so there’s a long way to go.
In the meantime, enjoy watching Barkley’s strong statement and O’Neal’s, Smith’s and Johnson’s reactions on loop. It never gets old.