The TNT studio host went on SiriusXM NBA Radio and called the moment “very disrespectful,” siding with the critics of his longtime on-air peer while making clear he was not simply echoing the president.

“[LeBron] was very disrespectful, but I don’t ever pay any attention to what President Trump says,” Barkley told hosts Eddie Johnson and Justin Termine, according to The Comeback.

It is the bluntest split between the two most recognizable voices in American basketball on a story that has traveled far beyond the US. James is an Olympic gold medalist and a global brand; Barkley, a Hall of Famer and television mainstay, is the one NBA peer whose criticism actually registers around him.

What happened at Madison Square Garden

The flashpoint came on opening night of the 2026-27 NBA season. The Philadelphia 76ers beat the New York Knicks 106-100 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, October 20, in James’s debut for his new team.

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Cameras caught James on the sideline during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Footage circulated widely showing a motion that looked like a golf swing, followed by a shooting gesture, while several teammates stood still.

President Donald Trump went after him two days later. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that “While listening to our National Anthem, LeBron James disrespects our Country!” and added that James “should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag,” according to Global News.

James brushed the criticism aside. “It must be a slow news day at the office,” he said after Philadelphia’s second win of the week, as reported by Sky Sports.

Barkley: ‘You have to be very careful with the anthem’

Barkley used his radio spot to explain why he was willing to publicly criticize a man he usually jokes with on TNT. He said he will always stand for the anthem, and that while the United States is not a perfect country, protest should be done respectfully.

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He then framed his position around the troops rather than the politics around them.

“I’m supporting the troops when I stand for the national anthem. I’m standing there for free speech. Even though I believe in free speech, I think you have to be very careful with the anthem,” Barkley said on the show.

Barkley has publicly tangled with James before, but almost never on anything beyond basketball. Siding with the critics on a cultural flashpoint, while pointedly refusing to credit the president for the idea, is the kind of narrow lane he has carved out for himself in American sports media.

The wider anthem fight the comments landed in

Trump has been pressing the point across basketball all week. At a Thursday rally in Iowa, he called for a boycott of the WNBA after the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream remained in their locker rooms for the anthem throughout the WNBA Finals, according to BroBible.

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The players in that series have mostly declined to engage. Several Atlanta and Golden State players said they were focused on game preparation and tuning out the political noise, the Washington Times reported.

Philadelphia sit at 2-0 with James in the lineup.

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