‘This is on Durant, Irving and Simmons’: Charles Barkley brands Brooklyn Nets trio ‘ fools’

Charles Barkley has boldly claimed that Steve Nash, the former Brooklyn Nets coach, was now the scapegoat for the failures of three players, which he used to describe in colorful language.

The players who got the fury of Barkley’s rant were expected to be the big three of Kevin Durant’s Nets, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons.

“From a public perception, it’s bad that you let these players take this guy off his job because they acted like fools,” Barkley said.

Steve Nash was fired from the Brooklyn Nets early Tuesday afternoon after a bad start

“This is all about Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons. Steve Nash is just a scapegoat.”

Durant, Irving and Simmons have all received quite a bit of criticism and negative attention from the team in recent years.

Dating back to this summer, Durant caused trouble for Nash and the team from the moment he initially asked for a trade with the organization.

Durant then doubled down on his request weeks later, stating that if Nash and General Sean Marks were not fired, he demanded to be traded.

After team ownership chose to side with Nash and Marks, Durant and the team’s front office had put the problems behind them and were ready to go into the season without ill will.

Kevin Durant responds to a foul during the first quarter of game against the Chicago Bulls

While Durant has reportedly given the team an ultimatum to trade him or fire Nash, at least he can say he was available to his now former head coach whenever possible, unlike his two-star teammates.

Ben Simmons was unfit for the Nets for about half a season after his widely publicized trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Simmons has already been the center of much criticism from fans around the league for his reluctance to shoot the ball. Even after moving to Brooklyn, the target on his back was still apparent to fans after drawing attention to airballing a jump shot at the Nets “practice in the park.”

Things have already got worse during Nets’ first handful of games after Irving heard ‘shoot it’ yelled when Simmons had the ball at the basket.

Simmons then went on to lay up, later in the same game to make matters worse.

Ben Simmons dribbles the ball against the Indiana Pacers during the second half of NBA basketball

Irving, on the other hand, has been the NBA’s poster child for dysfunction for the past two to three seasons.

As Barkley, or anyone who shares a similar view with the NBA Hall of Famer, might say, Irving has done enough to “act like a fool” to all three players.

The 30-year-old point guard’s troubles first started when he took a mid-season sabbatical during the 2021 season. He was then controversially seen partying with family during the sabbatical while Covid-19 was still in full swing .

The following season, the unvaccinated Irving would miss most of the year because of New York City’s much-maligned vaccine mandate, which had stated that athletes living in New York City must be vaccinated in order to play at home games.

Kyrie Irving Shared Links To Movie Based On Book ‘Containing Anti-Semitic Misinformation’

This season, Irving has been at the center of trade rumors after the Nets considered swapping him for the off-season, but the bigger problem stemmed from a recent social media post.

Irving recently linked to the 2018 movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which is based on a book of the same name. The book has been criticized over the years for containing “anti-Semitic disinformation.”

rolling stone Magazine has even labeled the book of the same name, released in 2015, on which the film is based, as “toxicly anti-Semitic.”

Irving went on to post the link to the film after getting into a verbal altercation with a reporter during a Nets press conference after the game. The team has since had to make him available to the media again.

Fans sat on the side of Monday’s Nets game wearing T-shirts that read ‘Fight Anti-Semitism’

Following Nash’s departure, the Nets are yet to provide some insight into their long-term plans with the head coach.

Reports surfaced after the firing that the Nets were eyeing Ime Udoka, as the favorite to be hired as the teams’ next head coach.

Udoka is currently suspended by the Boston Celtics after an investigation found he made “unwanted remarks” to a female Celtics employee with whom he was having an affair.

Any hiring decision by the Nets or any other team regarding Udoka would come after the team conducts a thorough background check on the situation.

Ime Udoka’s Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of last season’s playoffs