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Charles Barkley Falls on Live TV to Teach Zion Williamson a Lesson After Injury Scare: “Follow That A** America”

Published 04/11/2024, 11:41 PM EDT

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While the Kings-Pelicans game, as the TNT analysts predicted, was close at half-time with New Orleans leading 64-58, what no one expected was Zion Williamson leaving the court because of an injury. He took a tumble and landed on his wrist. Notorious Williamson critic, Charles Barkley chimed in with his tried and tested methods of preventing injuries. “Fall on the a**” was the first and last instruction of the Chuckster Method of on-court spills. It came with a live demo from the Round Mound of Rebound.

Because it’s TNT, it had a slow-motion replay of Barkley’s falling methods with the longer footnote, “Do not catch yourself, man. I hate when players do that.” The entire process left Studio J in stitches. Especially Shaquille O’Neal, who demanded repeated replays for everyone’s benefit. “Follow that a**, America,” he told viewers with wordplay on Chuck’s instruction.

Williamson came back in the second half and didn’t need to apply Chuck’s methods. He instead rained 31 points on the Kings, had 4 rebounds and 6 assists, and sealed the game 135-123.

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Somehow Shaq and Kenny couldn’t vouch for Chuck’s methods he claimed he honed as an NBA player during practices. Hence they goaded Chuck to not only show but replay that moment over and over. Kenny even tried to apply it during the halftime report but didn’t impress Barkley.

In all honesty, he kind of sort of has a point.Your body, it’s got too much force. You’re going to break your finger or your wrist.” The key is to keep your arms up. And if you’re Big Diesel, “You ain’t going to hurt your harda** head, Shaq.”

Validity aside, he provided the highlight of the last regular season broadcast of Inside the NBA.

Chuck 101 – Zion Williamson edition

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Fans took the live Chuck demo and ran with it, providing the Inside crew with the best social media jokes. Someone even reminded them that Chuck has a lot of demonstrative lessons for Zion Williamson. That was a good opportunity to throw it back to 2019.

USA Today via Reuters

That time Williamson had to leave the court because of a knee injury and reports circulated that the Pelicans were teaching the rookie how to run and walk in a way to prevent injuries. Again, Charles Barkley’s school of physical therapy opened and Professor Chuck gave a live ‘duck waddle’ demo on how Zion could walk or run. Unlike the falling method, this might be mild quackery.

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Hopefully, Williamson and other NBA pros took note. You’ll know when more players fall on that ’round mound.’

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Written by:

Caroline John

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Caroline John is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports. She holds a Masters degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from a reputed university. With 8 years of experience in content writing and after judiciously covering the life of Shaquille O’Neal, she even earned an exclusive interview with the CEO of Shaq’s Big Chicken franchise, Josh Halpern.
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Edited by:

Pragya Vashisth