A Royal Pain
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The beef between DeMarcus Cousins and Charles Barkley continues at All-Star Weekend

By Keith Jouganatos

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NBA Hall of Famer and one of the league’s 50 greatest players, Charles Barkley, and Sacramento Kings All-Star Center DeMarcus Cousins share the same hometown state of Alabama, and are two of the best basketball players the State has ever produced.

But that is where the similarities end.

” I don’t respect him and I don’t care what he thinks” – DeMarcus Cousins

It’s been no secret that Barkley and Cousins have shared a mutual disregard for each other. The beef apparently dates back to Cousins’ High School days. With Sir Charles in attendance to watch, Cousins was ejected after receiving two technical fouls. Local reporters asked Barkley what he thought of the young Center, to which Barkley responded that he was, “disappointed” in the youngster and felt he needed to grow up and mature.

In a Bleacher Report article last year, DeMarcus Cousins said he felt disrespected by Barkley’s comments.

When Cousins came into the League, Barkley’s opinion of him didn’t waver. In 2013 Cousins was ejected in a home loss to Dallas after delivering an apparent elbow to Vince Carter’s throat, which prompted the round mound of rebound to make his opinions felt loud and clear on national television.

“Ernie it’s time for DeMarcus Cousins to grow up” – Charles Barkley

The war of words between the two has continued this season. As Cousins vied for an All-Star appearance, Barkley discussed why he would not vote Cousins onto the Western Conference All-Star team. Barkley explained how he felt Cousins’ impressive statistics didn’t justify an All-Star selection because of Sacramento’s poor record.

But things may have just boiled over to the point of no return during All-Star Weekend in New York. Longtime TNT analyst David Aldridge was invited onto the set to discuss the Kings Head Coaching situation. Aldridge told Ernie Johnson and crew that the Kings had consulted with Cousins to discuss his views on George Karl receiving the job as Sacramento’s Head Coach. This prompted Barkley to say he was, “disgusted” at what the Kings had done in giving Cousins that much power over the Franchise.

“Why are they discussing it with him?” Barkley said during a TNT telecast. “Yeah, I am totally disgusted with that. … He hasn’t done enough to deserve that type of power. [The Kings] stink. Why would you give a guy that young that type of power?”

“If you’re a Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon or somebody like that, yeah, you deserved that type of power after you have earned it. Let me just say this either way, that’s just total bulls—. That’s ridiculous.”

Cousins responded to reporters last Saturday by saying, “I mean, that’s Charles being Charles.”

“A lot of people don’t really know the real story about it,” he said. “I never had anything to do with it in the first place.”

So continues the back and forth between Barkley and Cousins. Charles has made his mark, both on and off the court, by saying what he wants when he wants. From the famous Nike Commercial in which he stated he was not a role model, to his recent public feud with Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey over the benefits of using analytics to build a franchise in the National Basketball Association, this is Charles Barkley.

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    • Yet it’s been puzzling to see Barkley, a person who prides himself on being completely honest with the viewing public, refuse to give Cousins an inch of respect. It was only just last November following a huge Sacramento win against Chicago that Barkley turned the subject of DeMarcus Cousins’ maturation into what seemed to be his own expressed opinion that Cousins couldn’t beat him up in a fight.

    “There would be some furniture moving if he ever put his hands on me.” Barkley told the viewing audience.

    The fact is, it would be easy for anyone to see Barkley’s side of the argument. He sees a young, up and coming player with the potential for greatness in Cousins that needs to grow up. In all fairness to Cousins, he has made a tremendous amount of progress since his arrival into the League five years ago. In Cousins, Barkley sees a person that comes from where he comes from.

    In there may lay the harsh truth. Other than possibly Dwight Howard, no one gets as much criticism from Chuck. In truth, it’s not because Chuck has a personal grudge against him, but rather that he sees a young man with quite possibly the same rough and rugged intangibles that he once possessed before the likes of Moses Malone and Julius Erving got to him early in his career.

    One can continue the rampant speculation, but for now the message is clear.

    DeMarcus Cousins and Charles Barkley might come from the same State. But they continue to be on separate ends of the spectrum.

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