Sports

Charles Barkley Has A Surprisingly Woke Take On The Recent NCAA Scandal

(Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images for American Express)

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The recent report that exposed a number of top college basketball programs for allegedly engaging in illegal recruiting tactics has a lot of fans and pundits believing the NCAA is corrupt. Charles Barkley isn’t one of them.

“College basketball is great,” Barkley said, dismissing the recent belief that the NCAA is corrupt. “What about all the kids who get a good education who become great people? Yeah, there’s some shady stuff going on, but I always look at the big picture.”

The former NBA star, who played college ball at Auburn, made it clear that he doesn’t approve of some of the things going on, but reminded everyone of the good that the NCAA does for a lot of its student athletes.

“The NCAA has some issues . . . there’s a few guys that are corrupt–I do understand that–but I always look at the big picture,” Barkley continued. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, it’s not very simple, but let me tell you something I want all them young black kids getting that free education.”

When asked if he’s in favor of the NCAA further compensating student athletes, Barkley admitted that he wouldn’t even know where to begin and other people shouldn’t assume it’s as easy as writing a check.

“I don’t know how to pay ’em. Who do you pay? Do you pay the basketball team? You pay the football team? You pay the girls teams? It’s not that simple.”