Former NBA star and now TV pundit Charles Barkley has criticised the foreign leagues ahead of Draft pick Luka Doncic’s move.
Doncic has had a landmark season with Real Madrid, winning the Liga Endesa and EuroLeague titles, claiming the domestic, regular season and Final Four MVP award in the process.
The Slovenian also won the Rising Star trophy and he helped Slovenia win their first Eurobasket title to add.
But Barkey was skeptical about Doncic’s success, claiming that he must of been playing in a “shit league”, for that to happen.
Speaking to Scot Pollard during the “Planet Pollard Podcast”, Barkey doesn’t expect Doncic to be the number one or two pick either.
“I don’t trust foreign competition,” Barkley said to Pollard. “I don’t have nothing against foreign players. I just don’t know what kind of a competition it is. They’re like, at 18 years old he was the MVP. Well, that tells me he was playing against shitty competition. Nobody at 18 should be dominating grown men. I don’t care how bad the grown men are.
“You go back and look at the NBA. I’ve been in the NBA for over 30 years. There’s only one 18 year old that you can go back and say ‘oh he’s the real deal’. That’s LeBron James. People forget, as great as Kobe Bryant was, he struggled for the first few years. Kevin Garnett? Struggled in his first few years.
“They keep telling Doncic won MVP at 18. He shouldn’t be dominating grown men at 18. For this kid to be dominating… I wouldn’t take him with the No. 1 or 2 pick in the NBA Draft.”
