There’s an ESPN story titled “Charles Barkley doesn’t see longtime rift with Michael Jordan ending” that was published some time last night.

We don’t care about the Barkley/Jordan stuff, but if you keep reading, there’s a modern day Sixers mention that pops up at the very end of the article, which goes like this:

Barkley said part of his job as a broadcaster is to sometimes be critical of people and teams he likes personally. A former 76er, Barkley compared his rift with Jordan to one he has with a current Sixers star.

“Joel Embiid hates me because I call him lazy. Which, No. 1, I’m like, ‘Dude, you got to get in shape to play basketball.’ They don’t make him practice. It’s like, well, he’s got bad legs. That’s not how you get your legs better. You work out and get your legs better. Get him in the pool or something like that. But he’s a great kid, but I’m like, ‘Yo, man. You got to get in shape to play basketball.’ So I’m going to do my job no matter what.”

Nothing new or particular incendiary there, but it’s interesting to hear Chuck say that Embiid “hates” him. Seems like an exaggeration.

Earlier this year, we had the incident with Barkley and Shaq calling out Embiid on TNT, questioning if we were seeing the best that the Sixers’ superstar had to offer. Embiid agreed at the time, then went out and scored 38 points in a Boston road win, which led to this exchange with Chuck:

Barkley: “You’ve got a chance to be the best player in the world.”

Embiid: “I appreciate you. I really listened to what you said, and Shaq, and I’m gonna keep working. I’m definitely gonna use that try to get better every single night and bring it every single night. Thank you.”

Later, in February, Embiid gave Barkley a snarky and somewhat sardonic birthday shout out before exiting a postgame interview. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, since Embiid had just dropped a season high 39 points while shooting 18-19 from the foul line. He was being the “good asshole” that we’d seen in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and I’d be surprised if the two genuinely dislike each other. There’s certainly a begrudging level of respect there, when you peel back the layers.

Carry on.