Much like the Madison Square Garden crowd on Monday night, Charles Barkley couldn’t keep his eyes off Cardi B’s NBA Finals Game 3 halftime performance.
And he didn’t keep much of his thoughts to himself — nor could the rest of the “Inside the NBA” crew.
“Knicks up seven, looking for a 3-0 lead. We’ve been competing with Cardi B here,” host Ernie Johnson said as the broadcast showed the performance during Monday night’s game in New York.
“We lost,” Barkley said. “I don’t know if those B’s. They might be Cardi D’s,” as the crew was thrown into hysterics.
“I’m pretty sure those aren’t B’s,” he added as laughter filled the booth. “She’s got the wrong initials.”
“I don’t know who said that,” Johnson butted in just as the program cut to commercial.
The Hall of Famer’s attention to the “WAP” rapper wasn’t hard to notice.
The broadcast cut to a post on X calling out Shaquille O’Neal.
“Shaq is glued to CARDI B!! CHILLL focus Shaq,” the user wrote with several laughing crying emojis.
The ESPN broadcast crew hasn’t fallen short of viral moments throughout the NBA Finals.
Shaq had trouble getting past security ahead of Game 2, which made for a hilarious moment on social media.
The video showed that O’Neal had to re-enter the metal detector for a second walkthrough, and he ducked his head under the top to get back to the other side.
Additionally, during halftime of the Knicks’ eventual Game 2 win in San Antonio, Barkley completely ripped Victor Wembanyama.
“Wemby’s in shock right now,” he said. “It’s probably been a long time since he got his ass kicked like this. But right now, big KAT is taking his ass to the woodshed.”