Charles Barkley (left); Aaron Rodgers (right)
Charles Barkley (left); Aaron Rodgers (right).
Charles Barkley has beef with Aaron Rodgers
The Inside the NBA analyst mentioned the NFL star and his recent comments while on a radio show on Wednesday, Oct. 21
Barkley said he would not navigate his own retirement the way Rodgers, so far, has
Charles Barkley has one eye on the door — and another on Aaron Rodgers!
The Inside the NBA analyst, who has previously shared that he will retire at the end of this year, is making an exit plan, but he won’t be taking the 42-year-old NFL quarterback’s route.
“But I tell you what though, I’m not gonna bury everybody going out the door like Aaron,” Barkley, 63, said in a guest spot on Adam Schein’s Mad Dog Sports Radio show on Wednesday, Oct. 21. “I’m not gonna burn every bridge and talk bad about all my exes on my way out the door like he’s doing.”
The retired NBA star was referencing the Pittsburgh Steelers signal-caller’s comments, made last month on his teammate Cam Heyward’s podcast Not Just Football, in which he commented on the end of his engagement to actress Shailene Woodley.
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“I date Shailene, I propose and she says yes,” Rodgers said at the time. “She maybe felt like she was forced to make a decision, she could have said no. But not a couple of days after that, she tells me before we get married like, ‘I got to go f--- this guy.’ ”
Aaron Rodgers attends the 8th Annual NFL Honors on February 02, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia ; Shailene Woodley during the Milan Fashion Week on February 28, 2025 in Milan, Italy.
Aaron Rodgers attends the 8th Annual NFL Honors on February 02, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia ; Shailene Woodley during the Milan Fashion Week on February 28, 2025 in Milan, Italy.
He continued, “ ‘Cause her story is, I ruined her life and gave her crazy depression because I left her, but in actuality she told me that and took off the ring by March. I proposed in December, took off the ring by March, and we had a couple of times when we tried to get reunited and nothing ever happened, and there wasn’t even a relationship in ’22 to break off. She literally told me ‘I don’t want to be with you.’ ”
Rodgers — who is now married to a woman named Brittani — is widely believed to be hanging up his helmet at the end of this year after 22 seasons in the league.
For Barkley, the end of his broadcasting era may be more widely disputed.
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During an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast last month, Barkley said that the coming year would be Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson’s final season.
“Me and Ernie are a package deal,” Barkley said at the time.
On Wednesday, the package deal, plus Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, reunited for another season of their show.