Charles Barkley has opted to leave out Kobe Bryant and Lebron James when naming his top five NBA players of all-time.
The Hall of Famer omitted the two stars when asked to name his top five when asked what his list would be during an appearance on Kentucky coach John Calipari's "Coffee with Cal" show this week.
โMichael's [Jordan] one, Oscar Robertson's two,โ Barkley said. โ[Bill] Russell, Wilt [Chamberlain] and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], no particular order after Michael.โ
While Lebron and Kobe missed out on the top 5, Barkley managed to fit them into his top ten players of all-time. โKobe six, LeBron seven, then you've got Elgin Baylor, Jerry West,โ the former 76ers, Suns and Rockets star said.
Barkley did go on to explain his decision to keep James on the outside of the top five, making it a little clearer why his list was slanted more toward the old-school era play.
โYou know, I love LeBron and everything about him but I still think that the way they play the game today he didn't want any part of those bad boy Pistons,โ Barkley said. โLet me tell you something, those guys were out there trying to hurt people. I used to always tell people when you were playing the Pistons you had to call home and tell your family you love them just in case you never saw them again.โ
