Charles Barkley talks to Michael Eaves

From sports to politics to social issues, former basketball star Charles Barkley has an opinion on everything. He's been supportive of Jason Collins, the openly gay NBA player. He thinks Obamacare is a good idea and hates that rich people think they work harder than poor people. “They don’t,” Barkley said. The Emmy Award-winning analyst gives his take on the current status of the NBA — and how he would fare if he were on the court today.

Michael Eaves: I remember years ago when you were still playing, it seemed to me that you were almost offended that people only saw you as an athlete because you thought there was so much more to who you were, the person, than just a guy that dribbles the basketball and makes a lot of money.

Charles Barkley: I tell all these guys, basketball is what you do. It's not who you are. The notion that you let a sporting event dictate — like, "that's all I am," I've known that from the beginning.

Let's talk about racism, because you grew up in the South. It was beyond the Jim Crow era, but it was very segregated.

Yes.  

When you talk about racism, some people think you're just always talking about white people. 

No, because it's not — you can get confused at times. They make it black or white. 

Right.           

But I live in Arizona, and I think they really treated the Hispanics unfairly, rounded them up and trying to deport them all. Some of those people are really amazing people who work really, really hard. Really, really hard. And I admire the Hispanics living in Arizona.

Some of the greatest discrimination we've seen lately in American society has to do with gays and lesbians. This past season, Jason Collins came out as the first active player in the NBA to say that he was gay. You have said that you probably played with gay players.       

Everybody has.

You were in support of Jason Collins.

Everybody's played with a gay player, and everybody's worked with a gay person. You know, I'm a big proponent of gay marriage because I always talk about —being black, I'm really — it sucks when racism rears its ugly head. You see it all the time. So I want to be inclusionary in all walks of my life. So if a guy's gay, God bless him. I want nothing but the best for him, and I was proud of Jason because you don't want anybody to have to hide their identity.

President Obama has been criticized about his religion from the time he first became a candidate. 

That's only because he's black. You know, listen. We can sugarcoat it however we want to. Some people are never going be happy with a black president. That's the bottom line. They can sugarcoat it by his name —

So they claim he's Muslim — because they don't want to say, "We don't like him because he's black"? 

Yes. They don't like him because he's black.

Is health care the greatest achievement of his presidency?       

I don't know all the ins and outs of Obamacare or the Affordable (Care) Act. Everybody needs health care. That's all I care about. You know, like I said, I tell people we can sit here and argue about Obamacare, health care act, however you want to phrase it. Everybody needs health care. That's all I really care about. And any program that can get more people health care, I'm for it.  

You still want to run for office? 

No, because the political process has changed so much, Michael, where these Republicans and Democrats, they just fight over everything. There's not a single person in the world that I fight with over every subject. And that's silly. You know, shutting down the government because — you know what? Because it doesn't affect them. It doesn't affect them. I look at these people. There are real people out here. I never want to get to the point in my life, because I'm blessed to have a great life, that I don't care about people. Once I lose that, it's time for me to die.

You think there's a disconnect? 

There's a huge disconnect. Listen, I want to say America's the greatest place in the world, but there's a huge disconnect between the haves and the have-nots. You ask me about President Obama. I think he is the first president since Bill Clinton — we can go Democrat, Republican, however you want to phrase it. He's tried to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Because the gap between the rich and the poor, it's just gotten wider and wider and wider and wider. And as a guy who's in that 1 percent, I never want to forget about those 99 percent. Those people working hard, too. The one thing I hate about rich people is they actually think they work harder than poor people. They don't.

Sixteen years playing. Now you're about to enter your 14th season as a broadcaster.

Fifteen.

Pardon me for shorting you one. I wonder, do you have that same level of excitement going into the season you did as a player, or is it a completely different scenario?

Oh, they're two totally different things. There's nothing like playing. It's the greatest rush to be out there playing and, you know, a whole arena, a whole city — giving them joy. There's nothing like that. This is the first time probably in a while I've been excited about the season.   

Really?

I believe it was last year, maybe two years before, you said you were a little disappointed in the overall play of the league. It seems as though, as the personalities of the game have gotten bigger, the overall talent level has gone down. Do you agree with that? And how does that affect the league as a whole?

Well, I think what happened was, Michael, we started drafting players too young. You know, we went through a period where the NBA wasn't very good. We were drafting high-school players. Listen, guys out of high school are not ready to play in the NBA. Now, I still don't like us drafting a kid after one year, but that's still better than high school. And it takes — it's a process where a guy becomes a really good player.

But there are exceptions to that. 

There are. There are. That's my point. Kobe.   

Yes.   

Lebron.

Yes.   

Kevin Garnett.    

Yes. 

Guys like that. Those other guys who are coming out of high school aren't those guys.

Basketball has meant so much to your life through the years. You've always said it's, obviously, the best thing that's ever happened to you. Everything you have is because of basketball. Explain that beyond money.

When I say basketball has given me everything in my life, it's not even about the money. It's just about — it's just been my job. You know, I just turned 50, and I've had such an amazing, remarkable life, and it's because of basketball. Listen, the money is a blessing, first. I always said it. The money is a blessing. But I'm a little fat kid from Leeds, Alabama, growing up in the projects on welfare. And now 50 years later, I've been all over the world. I wouldn't have been able to do that.

What do you think it's like to work with you? Do you think you are a good co-worker?

I think I'm a great co-worker.

Why?

Because I'm very easy.

Have you asked everyone this question?

I know what the other guys are like!

So you compare yourself to them?

You know, I don't ask for a lot. I want to show up and make people laugh when they watch "In Basketball." You know, the fine line is you want to talk about your team. Let's talk about your team. But if you want to laugh, I'm going to make you laugh. So I think I'm pretty easy to work with, because I'm not demanding. All I want is my Diet Coke on the set. I'm addicted to Diet Coke, but I'm trying to stop.        

So all this success you've had through the years — basketball and now entertainment and television — a long time ago you said you are not a role model. As you've gotten older, do you feel you are a role model?

Listen, if you're blessed enough to go to the NBA or the NFL, God bless you. I'm happy for you. But 99.9 percent of these young black kids have to get a real job. And I wanted to start that debate about the role model thing like, "Dude, you're not going to play pro sports. Get your damn education." We can sit here and argue about college paying and this and that. But you kids need to get your education. And the bottom line is the majority of these black kids are not getting their education. And the system's still going to make billions of dollars. Those football stadiums are going to sell 100,000 every weekend in college, and those kids — a couple of them are going to go to the NFL. A couple kids are going to go to the NBA. But these systems in place — March Madness — they still going to make hundreds of millions of dollars a year. And it's frustrating for me that these young black kids are not using the system. We can argue about the system all day long. But the system is what it is. They're going to make billions and billions of dollars on these kids. So that's why I started the debate on the role model commercial.

Real quickly, we're going to have some fun. Is anyone playing the game today as good as you at your position? If you played today, what would you average?

I'd still get 20 and 10.

That's all?

I'd get a little bit more. I mean, my game — the game is easier now. The game is easier now. Because, you know, they changed the rules. You can't hand check. Right.

They softened it.

They softened the game up. So it'd be easy for us older guys to play today.     

Charles Barkley's interview has been condensed and edited.