Some might remember how Charles Barkley called his job as a sportscaster “the most scam job in history”. Now, according to him, there may be another job in the NBA that is, if not more, then equally a scam. And that is not too unfounded on his side, is it? After all, Barkley has long believed that former players run a basketball team in the best manner possible.

During his recent appearance on The Howard Eskin Show, the Hall of Famer seemed pretty upset regarding the current situation of the NBA head coaches. Barkley pointed out how the coaches aren’t given much freedom these days; instead, it’s the general managers who pull most of the strings. And yet, when it comes to shouldering the blame, the HCs have to take the fall.

“The best job to have is a general manager’s because that’s one of the great scams going on in the NBA,” Barkley said. “Because as a general manager, you can bring the players and the coaches and keep your job for a long period of time.”

The former NBA star called out the likes of Los Angeles Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and the rest of the GMs around the league for having the least volatile job in the league. Considering that most of the general managers we see in the league today have been at the helm for several years, even though their organization might not be doing well, many might agree with him.

“That’s why I said, ‘What job?’ When I interviewed for some of those jobs, I was like, ‘Well, I want to run things because I get to blame everybody else, even though I’m making all the decisions. I just keep trading players. I keep firing coaches,” Barkley further emphasized. “And then after a while, people like, ‘Well, there’s been one consistent with all this losing one guy.’ And then they finally get fired after a bunch of years.”

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Barkley’s comments bring to mind coaches like Michael Malone, Taylor Jenkins, and Mike Budenholzer. Still and all, GMs are certainly not a “scam”. Flexibility and adaptability are much required. After all, being in charge of contract negotiations, hiring, operations, and drafting players is no easy feat. Yes, there are perks of being a general manager, especially when it comes to power and authority, but one wrong move could spell disaster.

Everyone witnessed what happened with former Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison following the Luka Doncic trade. That should give anyone a good idea of how high-stakes the job is. Nonetheless, even after that, it seems like Charles Barkley is quite confident he’d make a good general manager if allowed to prove himself.

Charles Barkley is quite confident he could be an excellent GM

Barkley seems to have held such opinions for years. Back in 2018, he thought he was next in line for the Orlando Magic’s general manager job. When that didn’t happen, Chuck didn’t hold back: “They hired another of those analytical idiots instead of the best players. That’s OK.”

Around that same time, he was openly ripping the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets for the way they were building and running their teams. Fast forward, and the former NBA superstar still believes that he’d make quite a good general manager. Sharing his blueprint for the job, he stressed seeking advice from former players and having a long-term vision.

“The key is you’ve got to know basketball,” Barkley said. “You’ve got to surround yourself with the right people. If I have a guard question, I would go to Reggie, Steve, and Kenny because tell me what I’m looking for in a guard. When I watch a big guy play, I joke that some of these power forwards are averaging six rebounds a game; they’re small forwards.”

“If my power forward is getting me six rebounds a game, they’re small forwards,” he emphasized. “My power forward is giving me six rebounds a game; I just can’t plug him in. My two guards need to shoot the ball; my point guard cannot shoot it that much.”

Charles Barkley is an old-school guy, and that shows in his thought process. He has always relied on traditional ways of doing things. While that can work pretty well under certain circumstances, it probably won’t be the most efficient way of managing a team in the modern NBA. That’s because apart from the basketball-related decisions, there’s a lot a GM has to decide.