On Monday night, Charles Barkley found himself as captivated as the Madison Square Garden audience by Cardi B’s halftime show at Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The outspoken personality didn’t hold back his thoughts, and neither did his fellow “Inside the NBA” commentators.
As the Knicks led by seven and aimed to secure a 3-0 series advantage, host Ernie Johnson remarked, “We’ve been competing with Cardi B here,” while the broadcast aired snippets of her performance.
Barkley quipped, “We lost,” before adding with a chuckle, “I don’t know if those are B’s. They might be Cardi D’s,” prompting uproarious laughter from the panel.
“I’m pretty sure those aren’t B’s,” he added as laughter filled the booth. “She’s got the wrong initials.”
“I don’t know who said that,” Johnson butted in just as the program cut to commercial.
The Hall of Famer’s attention to the “WAP” rapper wasn’t hard to notice.
The broadcast cut to a post on X calling out Shaquille O’Neal.
“Shaq is glued to CARDI B!! CHILLL focus Shaq,” the user wrote with several laughing crying emojis.
The ESPN broadcast crew hasn’t fallen short of viral moments throughout the NBA Finals.
Shaq had trouble getting past security ahead of Game 2, which made for a hilarious moment on social media.
The video showed that O’Neal had to re-enter the metal detector for a second walkthrough, and he ducked his head under the top to get back to the other side.
Additionally, during halftime of the Knicks’ eventual Game 2 win in San Antonio, Barkley completely ripped Victor Wembanyama.
“Wemby’s in shock right now,” he said. “It’s probably been a long time since he got his ass kicked like this. But right now, big KAT is taking his ass to the woodshed.”