Charles Barkley is already in midseason form. The TNT analyst, known for his outspoken views, used the pregame show before the Cavaliers began NBA play Tuesday against the Knicks to make quite a claim about who ranks second in the league to LeBron James.
Barkley identified a member of the Warriors as the NBA’s second-best player, but it wasn’t reigning two-time MVP Steph Curry. It also wasn’t 2014 MVP Kevin Durant, or do-everything forward Draymond Green. Try Door No. 4: Klay Thompson.
Co-analyst Kenny Smith began the discussion by saying that, in the offseason, the Warriors had added “the second-best player on Earth,” Durant. “You’re out of your mind,” Barkley told him.
When asked to name his penultimate terrestrial hoopster, Barkley initially offered the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard, then Thompson. He clarified his position by saying, “I think Klay Thompson is the best all-around player, other than LeBron James, in the NBA.”
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Barkley said that Leonard was “right there,” but gave the nod to Thompson based on the latter’s superior offensive skills. He placed Durant fourth and Curry fifth.
It is widely acknowledged that Curry and Durant are not the defenders that Thompson and Leonard are. However, Curry led the NBA in player efficiency rating (per Basketball Reference) last season, and by a significant margin, with his 31.5 mark well ahead of Durant’s second-place mark of 28.2. Meanwhile, Leonard was sixth at 26.0 and Thompson was far behind at 18.6. Granted, PER is not the be-all and end-all of player measurements, but it’s also worth noting that Curry’s mark in defensive win shares, 4.1 (per Basketball Reference again), was 10th in the league and well ahead of Thompson (2.6), although behind Green at 5.1.
Moving away from advanced statistics and into the realm of what we’ve all seen with our eyes, Barkley is among the few people on the planet who have watched the Warriors play and come away with the impression that Thompson is better than Curry. But he is also one of the few people on the planet paid handsomely to say noteworthy things about basketball on TV, so by that standard, mission accomplished.
Barkley probably has a better argument to make in favor of Leonard, who finished second to Curry in MVP voting this year. The good news for all of us that the NBA season is finally underway, and while we’re enjoying the heck out of watching these ridiculously loaded Warriors, we can form our own opinions about who’s better than whom.
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