"He joined Olajuwon. And then Scottie Pippen came in" - LeBron James' former teammate slams Charles Barkley for criticism of superteams

NBA legend Charles Barkley made the rounds again last week. Once again, he criticized big-name players for their complaints and their apparent lack of competitiveness.

Barkley called them out for teaming up instead of competing against one another, and he pointed the finger at LeBron James and Kevin Durant for the league implementing the feared second apron of the CBA.

The Hall of Famer said that if they had wanted to compete, they wouldn't have this problem, so they can't complain now.

With that in mind, Richard Jefferson, a colleague of the media and former LeBron James teammate, took a big shot at him in the latest edition of his "Road Trippin'" show:

“When we look at teaming up, he did it! He joined Olajuwon. And then Scottie Pippen came in,” Jefferson said. "But Charles joined the Houston Rockets with Hakeem Olajuwon and then they went and recruited Scottie Pippen."

Jefferson then used Barkley's own words against him by stating that perhaps he didn't want to compete at the highest level, either:

"Why did Charles go to Houston? Or maybe he’s telling us he didn’t want to compete. Come on, Charles," Jefferson said.

Barkley forced his way to the Rockets back in 1996 to team up with Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, and Scottie Pippen would briefly join him in 1999.

Charles Barkley said he wouldn't count a ring with Houston

Even so, Barkley is well aware of the fact that he committed the very same cardinal sin he's accused others of doing.

Back in May 2020, in an appearance on "The Zach Lowe podcast," the legendary power forward went as far as to say that winning a ring with that team wouldn't even count. He also talked about Karl Malone joining the LA Lakers in the final year of his career:

"I wouldn’t even have counted that as a championship. I’m not going to lie. Me and Karl Malone – if he had won a championship with the Lakers, that doesn’t count. That doesn’t count," Barkley said.

At the end of the day, all rings should count, and Barkley is still one of the greatest players of all time, regardless of whether he won a championship or not.

Whatever the case, perhaps Barkley will want to choose his words about this subject a little more carefully, knowing that he did what he's criticizing decades before other superstars followed his steps.