Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Charles Barkley roasts Klay Thompson: 'Old players don't get better'

Charles Barkley loves to roast Klay Thompson, albeit in the form of good-natured ribbing. 

A year or so after he joked that an aging Thompson would deliver his "doordash real soon," Barkley once again poked fun at the Warriors star on Tuesday night. 

After Thompson shot 0-of-10 in possibly his last-ever game as a Warrior, Barkley saw the perfect opportunity to diss one half of the famed Splash Brothers.

"Klay's not going to get younger," Barkley said on "Inside the NBA" on TNT. "He's not gonna get better. He's gonna make less money but he ain't gonna get no better. Older people don't get — sports ain't for old people. They're for young people. "That's no disrespect. Klay is a Hall of Famer. He's lowered his number [in free agency], but that doesn't mean he's gonna play better as he ages. It doesn't work that way."


Barkley added that even if the Warriors move the 34-year-old Thompson to a bench role, the sharpshooter won't impact games like in his glory years. To that end, the Hall of Famer feels the Warriors "are in trouble" and could be forced to let Thompson walk as a free agent. 

Meanwhile, Steve Kerr still hopes to have Thompson back next season. Following his team's play-in loss to Sacramento, the Warriors head coach said Thompson still has a lot left in the tank, and that the critics shouldn't be writing him off yet.

"He's still got good years left," Kerr told reporters. "And I know I speak for everybody in the (organization) — we want him back. What Klay has meant to this franchise, as good as he still is, we desperately want him back."

If Tuesday did mark Thompson's last game as a Warrior, the sharpshooter would be exiting the franchise after appearing in 793 regular-season games and 158 playoff games for the Bay Area squad. 

In his 13 seasons, two of which were redshirt years, Thompson averaged 19.6 points at an impressive 41.3 percent from the three-point arc. 

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