During TNT’s NBA Tipoff show ahead of Thursday night’s game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, Barkley took a direct shot at Perkins and ESPN for their coverage of the NBA as a whole.

Barkley blasted ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins by name, calling him “an idiot and a fool” over a comment he made on NBA Today Wednesday about the Lakers “saving the NBA” by trading for Luka Doncic.

My thing is don’t play with me like that. I am the smoke,” Perkins told me. “I don’t come up with the topics on ESPN and I don’t produce the shows. That’s not my job. My job is to give my