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Charles Barkley drops the hammer on LeBron James - 'drama queen'

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It came as no surprise when LeBron James garnered the most All-Star game votes from the fans for the fourth time in his career.

James is the best player of his generation and now only Michael Jordan has led the league in All-Star votes more times than the King.

But it was a bit of a surprise that James finished second in player votes among Eastern Conference front-court players.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was the No. 1 pick among his fellow players, and Charles Barkley has a theory as why James was slighted.


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“I’m not at all because I think the players like Greek Freak’s personality better,” he said Thursday night on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” “LeBron is a great player and a great guy, but he’s a drama queen.”

When Shaq followed up with LeBron finishing second having to do with basketball and not his personality, Barkley responded, “Yes it does, and the players can vote for who they want to.”

“He’s passive-aggressive,” Barkley added.

There have been many passive-aggressive moments by James over the years including his “Arthur” meme. He also subtweeted Kevin Love, urging the power forward to “fit in” after Love had some trouble during his first season in Cleveland.

Do you think LeBron James is a "drama queen"?

The number of times James has displayed passive-aggressive behavior to Kyrie Irving on social media would be hard to count. After Irving stopped following James on Instagram this summer, James followed up with a social media post with the caption “They wanna see me fail,” which was clearly aimed at Irving but not explicitly so.

This isn’t the first time that Barkley has taken shots at James or vice versa. Sir Charles called James’ “Decision” to join the Miami Heat a “punk move” and said because of it, James will never enter Barkley’s list of the top five players in NBA history.

Last January, Barkley again called out James after the four-time MVP complained that the Cavs’ front office hadn’t supplied him with enough good players.

“Inappropriate. Whiny. All of the above,” Barkley said of James. “The Cleveland Cavaliers, they have given him everything he wanted. They have the highest payroll in NBA history. He wanted J.R. Smith last summer, they paid him. He wanted [Iman] Shumpert last summer. They brought in Kyle Korver. He’s the best player in the world. Does he want all of the good players? He don’t want to compete? He is an amazing player. They’re the defending champs.”

That prompted James to respond to Barkley in anything but a passive-aggressive manner as he brought up Barkley’s past legal issues.

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“He’s a hater,” LeBron said. “What makes what he says credible? Because he’s on TV?

“I’m not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that. I’m not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, ‘I’m not a role model.’ I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.

“All I’ve done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that.”

James has clearly represented the NBA in the right way, and that is evident by his getting the most fan votes for the All-Star game. Even though James didn’t get the most player votes, by winning both the fan vote and the media vote, James will be a captain for the All-Star game and have the first pick over Steph Curry, who is the other team captain.

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Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009.
Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009 and previously worked for ESPN, CBS and STATS Inc. A native of Louisiana, Ross now resides in Houston.
Location
Houston, Texas
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Sports




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