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NBA Opening Night was pretty dull, so of course Charles Barkley had to try and steal the show. After two relatively lackluster performances from the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, the former NBA All-Star and degenerate gambler yelled on TNT’s post-game wrap-up to bet $100,000 on the Portland Trail Blazers to win the Western Conference.
Chuck might as well have thrown the money behind his chair, pissed on it and lit it on fire (Dame, please don’t make me eat these words). Check out the video from NBA on TNT:
Chuck is putting his money where his mouth is ✍️ pic.twitter.com/3gWG7O44Lr
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) December 23, 2020
We aren’t sure where Barkley is making this bet, but DraftKings Sportsbook has the Blazers t +1600 to win the West. Those are the 6th-best odds, so it’s really not an outlandish take by Chuck, it’s just kind of like “Huh?” What is he doing? Is it just a bit? I know he does this every year, but just throwing away that much money — in these times — seems a bit dumb. Now, if Chuck won the bet, it would pay out $1.7 million, so sure, if he ends up hitting, giving back would be in the cards ... although we won’t know the outcome until May ....
It also appears to be a gross overreaction to the Lakers looking pretty awful against the Clippers. Oh yeah, not sure if Chuck knows this, but the Clippers are also in the Western Conference, sooo good luck, Blazers. I like Portland this season too! And I love Damian Lillard! So this sort of pains me. It’s just you don’t add Robert Covington and get a healthy Jusuf Nurkic and all of a sudden jump from barely the 8-seed to winning the entire conference.