Charles Barkley doesn't think Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant can handle New York.
When asked by Sports Illustrated what advice he'd give Durant if the latter came to him for advice about signing with the Knicks, Barkley said Durant wouldn't be "tough enough" to handle it.
I asked Charles Barkley today what he would say to Kevin Durant if Durant came to him for advice about signing with the Knicks: “You ain’t tough enough to play in New York."
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) March 12, 2019
When pressed further, Barkley added: "I don't think Durant or Kyrie are tough enough to play in New York. Kyrie's a very good player. Kevin's a great, great player. But I'm not sure they have the mental make up to play in New York.
"Those guys are complaining about the media asking questions. Maybe New York isn't for them."
Irving recently apologized for the way he has handled himself with the media, saying he is "still learning."
“The way I’ve handled things, it hasn’t been perfect,” Irving said Sunday. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes that I take full responsibility for. I apologize. I haven’t done it perfectly. I haven’t said the right things all the time. I don’t want to sit on a place like I’m on a pedestal from anybody. I’m a normal human being that makes mistakes. For me, I think because of how fixated I was on trying to prove other people wrong, I got into a lot of habits that were bad, like reading stuff and reacting emotionally. That’s just not who I am.”
Both Irving and Durant are free agents this summer, with persistent rumors swirling that one of them could end up with the Knicks.
Barkley previously criticized Irving, saying he looked like "one of the most miserable people I've ever seen."
