Charles Barkley Complains About The Late Start Times In The NBA Playoffs, Shaq Hilariously Pushes Back

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Charles Barkley is just like you and me, he too hates the ridiculously late start times in the NBA playoffs.

While Barkley is paid millions to talk about and promote the NBA, one of the many reasons fans like and respect the Hall of Famer is because he tells it like it. The league and his employers at TNT may not appreciate when he criticizes the NBA, but that's what makes Chuck, Chuck.

READ: CHARLES BARKLEY TRAVELS WITH HIS OWN SOAP, AND THE WORLD ISN’T READY FOR THE REASON WHY

Ahead of Game 1 between the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat on Sunday, 'NBA on TNT' co-host Ernie Johnson laid out the schedule for the other two playoff games later that evening. Barkley particularly took note of the Denver Nuggets - Minnesota Timberwolves game starting at 10:30 EST, 8:30 local time in Denver.

"I have a problem with the game starting at 10:30 (ET), I do have a problem with that," Barkley said. "Listen, man, we have the whole day to ourselves. We should be doing 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock. To have that last game at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, that’s just wrong, I don’t care what anyone says.”

Barkley isn't wrong, there are plenty of hours in a day to not have extremely late start times, especially for the most meaningful basketball of the year.

Despite understanding his point, co-shot Shaquille O'Neal couldn't help from taking a shot at Barkley's comments.

“Do you want some cheese with that whine, baby?" O'Neal asked before Barkley explained "We got to have some respect for the fans at some point. It ain’t fair for the people in Denver to be playing at 8:30 at night and they got to go to school tomorrow.”

Chuck is just looking out for the kids, you've got to love it.

At the end of the day, this isn't just an NBA problem. Playoff games in the NHL and MLB seem to keep pushing back start times as well. It's terrible for fans living in certain time zones, but for the Nuggets fan's sake on Sunday, it was even brutal for them as well.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.