Old age doesn’t always do you any favors. Now you can’t really call someone like LeBron James “old.” He’s still very much dominant in the NBA at 40. And no one knows when he’ll retire, as he enters a record-breaking 23rd season. However, his latest interests, precisely in pickleball, has oddly made Charles Barkley scrunch his nose.

You see, during his NBA days, Chuck was one of those players who immediately sent shiver down the opponents’ spine. Even without a ring, the legend made his way to the Hall of Fame. However, he too is a fan of other sports. Take golf as an example. Every year, the 62-year-old plays at the American Century Championship. This year he finished 69th, not so impressive after all.

Meanwhile, LeBron and Draymond Green’s latest obsession with pickleball has turned into a matter of intrigue for Barkley. James, along with Green and Kevin Love, invested in a Major League Pickleball (MLP) team in 2022. Recently, Chuck joined George Kittle on the Kittle Things YouTube. This is where he unleashed a pickleball slander. “There’s not a lot you can do when you get old, and that’s something you two are gonna be able to do when he gets older. I mean, you can’t go play basketball,” Charles Barkley began.

But then he added, “Let me tell you something. They got this stupid thing going around called pickleball, which is the way old people out here are getting hurt.“ He further said, “My doctor friends said pickleball is the gift that keeps giving because all these old people are killing themselves and getting hurt. My doctor friends are in heaven right now. Pickleball is the gift that keeps giving.”

Pickleball, born in 1965 with a wiffle ball and ping pong paddles, is played on a 20 foot by 44 foot court to 11 points with a two point cushion. The net stands 36 inches and a seven foot kitchen deters smashing. More than one million tried it in two years. Membership nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021, hitting 4.8 million with under 24 booming in 2020 to 2021.

And to be fair, Charles Barkley isn’t incorrect. Pickleball has turned into a risky affair as injury rates skyrocket. Between 2020 and 2022, US emergency department visits shot up 91 percent while hospitalizations surged 257 percent. Older adults, especially those 65 and above, face the highest danger. Fractures, strains, and sprains dominate the charts, with wrists taking the brunt. And since falls drive many of these accidents, wrist fractures are piling up with alarming speed.

Meanwhile, LeBron James, Draymond Green, and Kevin Love made headlines with their splash into Major League Pickleball, joining forces with Maverick Carter in what many are calling a watershed moment. Yet while the sport’s rise feels unstoppable, the bold move has not gone unchallenged.

LeBron James & Draymond Green’s MLP move amidst Charles Barkley’s critical eyes

LeBron James is widening his empire again, stepping into America’s new craze with Major League Pickleball. In a deal that grows the league from 12 to 16 teams, he joins Draymond Green, Kevin Love, and longtime partner Maverick Carter to buy an expansion franchise. Together they carry nine NBA championships, instantly elevating pickleball’s profile with the kind of star power money rarely buys.

MLP founder Steve Kuhn hailed it a “watershed moment,” stressing pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the country. His goal is ambitious yet bold: 40 million players worldwide by 2030. With big names already invested, from Super Bowl winner Drew Brees to Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and tennis star James Blake, the sport’s future now feels unstoppable and unapologetically grand.

Pickleball may look harmless, but it has sparked a storm only legends could create. Charles Barkley laughs it off as a playground for injuries, while LeBron James and Draymond Green crown it the next empire to rule. Moreover, Chuck and Bron have been in the same sentences quite a lot lately. Meanwhile, one calls pickleball foolish, the other calls it future. And somewhere in between, the fastest growing sport in America writes its own unapologetic chapter.