NBA
Charles Barkley Describes Modern NBA Coaches As ‘Cowards’
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated16 mins ago on July 16, 2025
This past weekend, Charles Barkley showed no fear when talking about modern coaching in the NBA, comparing them to how he was coached when he was younger, opposed to the way players are taken care of in today’s game. The Hall of Famer is convinced that this is why many athletes don’t live up to their potential.
In a recent interview on the The Dan Patrick Show, the 62-year-old went all the way to suggest that some of these roster leaders are “scared to coach” due to how much money players make. “I think the biggest thing you need to be a great player is have a good coaching staff,” he started out.
Chuck then explained: “That is probably the most important thing — the coaching staff. I think more players get ruined by bad coaching staffs … because coaches are cowards. They’re scared to coach. Like, I wanted a Pat Riley. I had a great coach, Billy Cunningham, a Gregg Popovich, but most of the coaches today, they are cowards.”
The ESPN icon says players run the teams. “They don’t have them under control,” he assured. “The players run the team. And the coach needs to realize that player is going to get him fired, but we have taken the power from the coaches away because the players make so much money. But I say bad coaches have ruined more players than anything in the NBA.”
The Suns legend talked to Patrick this weekend during the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, which is an annual event in which former NHL star Joe Pavelski took home the title. Barkley ended the competition in 69th place.
“I’m gunning for Steph Curry,” Charles told the press after the competition, as it is well known that the Golden State player is a great golfer. The former athlete expressed gratitude to the crowd who cheered him on, as he played alongside comedians Nate Bargatze and Larry the Cable Guy.
Barkley certainly enjoyed himself. “The crowd was going crazy, man. It was unbelievable. It’s been a great day,” he told the Peacock stream. “I thought I would play. I didn’t think I would play this well … I’m having so much fun. I’ve been working so hard on my game.”
