Charles Barkley, Jared Sullinger Exchange Playful Verbal Barbs During NBA Playoffs
BOSTON – Jared Sullinger has a lot of free time on his hands these days.
With a rough regular season behind him, the Celtics' big man, like most other NBA fans, tuned into TNT's Inside The NBA playoff coverage on Tuesday night. Show panelists Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal were arguing, going back-and-forth during the broadcast, which inspired Sullinger to send out a playful pair of tweets.
Does Shaq and chuck get paid on TNT just to argue with one another. Doesn't matter what Shaq says. Chuck disagreeing lol
— Jared Sullinger (@Jared_Sully0) April 23, 2014
Shaq and chuck argue more than my father @satchsullinger and big bro @MrOH1O #Neverthoughtitcouldbedone — Jared Sullinger (@Jared_Sully0) April 23, 2014
One of the best parts of the "Inside The NBA" broadcast is how the TNT producing team stays on top of everything in social media instantaneously. Sullinger tweeted out his remarks on Barkley and Shaq just after 8 p.m., during halftime of the Pacers-Hawks broadcast.
Just minutes later, TNT had the tweet on air for the crew to respond to. Barkley had a nice comeback planned for Sullinger as you can see in the following clip.
Sullinger had no response for Barkley after the putdown.
???????????????????????????????????????? Chuck wins....
— Jared Sullinger (@Jared_Sully0) April 23, 2014
Next time around, Sullinger may want to take a jab at Barkley's lack of NBA rings to get even. Then again, Sullinger would probably be best served to hold off on any trash talk until he's back in the postseason.
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.