Charles Barkley says he’ll never appear in another NBA 2K game until 2K Games pays the NBA Retired Players’ Association.
If you played NBA 2K18, you already recognize the voices. On the court, you have Doris Burke, Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, David Alrdige and Kevin Harlan describing the action and interviewing the players.
During pre-game, halftime, and post-game you have the team of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaq breaking down the action like they do on TNT’s broadcast.
If you’re a fan of an NBA broadcast on TNT, you realize that there is one person missing from this massive ensemble.
Charles Barkley.
Scoop B Radio met with Charles Barkley and Barkley stood his ground on why he won’t appear in an NBA 2K game.
“My job is to take care of the older players and we’ve been having this argument with NBA 2K for 20 years now,” he said.
Charles Barkley won’t appear on @NBA2K w/o @TheNBPA & @NBAalumni being compensated – https://t.co/f3EmmpJIuG
Cc: @Ronnie2K #NBA2K19 pic.twitter.com/kU7XWGepkZ
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) July 16, 2018
This isn’t anything new for Barkley. In October 2016, he told Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated the same thing. “They make a lot of money on that game. What I said to them was we as players have not done enough for the retired players association.”
It’s a shame that Barkley and 2K Games can’t come to an agreement. It would be great to have Barkley battle on the Phoenix Suns against some legend teams in NBA 2K19. If he’s as entertaining in the game if he is on TV, it would be a welcomed addition to the pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows in 2K.
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Who cares? Not going to break my heart.