Firing a head coach after a failed season, sometimes even a mildly successful one, has become a regular occurrence in the NBA. In the past few weeks, we have seen the Lakers fire Darvin Ham and the Suns let go of Frank Vogel after they got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Following the trend, another head coach joins the list as the Cleveland Cavaliers fired JB Bickerstaff despite the team reaching the Eastern semifinals for the first time since the LeBron James era. And after hearing the unfortunate news, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley didn’t hold back on slamming the players and front offices for using head coaches as scapegoats.

Making an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Barkley went on a rant after learning about the firing of Bickerstaff, “I am so disgusted with these punk a** NBA players today.” When the Lakers fired Ham, many experts believed that he was being used as a scapegoat to hide the bigger issues in LA, bringing a lot of heat the Lakers’ way. But now, it has become evident that head coaches are the first to face the consequences of a failed season, regardless of whose fault it is.

Then, talking about Ham, Vogel, and Bickerstaff’s firing, Barkley was furious at the players and front offices for not taking any accountability for their team’s failure. “This is the NBA today.” Even in Bickerstaff’s case, he did his best in the playoffs despite missing Donovan Mitchell and several other key players for the majority of the playoffs due to injury. And it’s not like Bickerstaff was facing a lot of failure before this season. In the five seasons he was the Cavs head coach, the team was going through a rebuild and still, Bickerstaff finished with a 170-159 winning record. Regardless, he was shown the door by the franchise. Even Barkley said, “He didn’t deserve to get fired.”

Charles Barkley wanted a GM job?

Talking about the sorry state of the head coaches in the NBA, Barkley also made a shocking revelation on the show. Surprisingly, Barkley has interviewed for three separate front-office roles in his 50s looking to be a GM in the league. But why would Barkley want a job that he frequently criticizes on TV? Well, that’s because Barkley believes it’s the most secure job in the world, “You get to fire like four guys before people realize you’re the problem.”

In most scenarios, people hardly point fingers at the GMs who put teams together and rather blame the head coaches and players for their performance on the court. And Barkley claimed that amid all the chaos, front offices get to hide behind closed doors and keep their jobs for a long time while coaches and players keep losing their jobs as scapegoats. Because of that, Barkley wanted the perks of being a member of a team’s front office.

However, Barkley claimed that his desire to be a GM was in the past, and if given an opportunity now, he might not want it, “It’s probably too late for me now.” Although, realizing that he might soon be jobless because of the league’s media rights going to NBC and Inside the NBA show possibly ending next year, Barkley started reconsidering his options as a GM. Do you want to see Barkley as the GM of an NBA franchise?

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow in what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video: