Lebron James rips Charles Barkley for being a 'hater'

Lebron James is done biting his tongue and has proclaimed himself the new sheriff in town.

On Monday, Jan. 30, following a loss to the Dallas Mavericks, he went on a rant against Charles Barkley for comments the TNT analyst made about him. Following James complaint to the media about needing more help for the Cavaliers, the NBA on TNT crew had a discussion about his comments.

In the video, Barkley deemed James' comments as inappropriate, whiny and accused the Cavs star of not wanting to compete.

Barkley has been a consistent critic of the four-time MVP for years. He called James' antics surrounding his 2010 departure from Cleveland a "punk move" and last year, on the short-lived HBO talk show with Bill Simmons, he claimed Lebron will never be on his top five list of NBA greats.

In an interview with ESPN, James finally took his tongue out of park and tore into his longtime critic. He started by questioning Barkley's credibility.

"He's a hater," James said of Barkley. "What makes what he says credible? Because he's on TV?"

James then proceeded to disparage Barkley's legacy in defense of his own.

"I'm not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that," James told reporter Dave McMenamin. "I'm not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, 'I'm not a role model.' I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.”

After listing off Barkley's comprehensive resume of shameful faux pas, and at one point saying "screw Charles Barkely," he still wasn't finished.

"All I've done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way,” James continued. “Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that."

Before ending his insulting tirade, the future Hall of Famer  issued, to the current Hall a Famer, a challenge of sorts.

"And if this makes him want to talk to me, the schedule's out there," James said. "He knows every road arena I'll be in. Don't just come up to me at  [the All-Star game] and shake my hand and smile."

Of all the intense criticism Lebron has drawn over the years, this is undoubtedly his most irate response he's ever given. His epic clap back began trending on Twitter as fans extolled the verbal shots he fired.

Barkley has yet to respond to James incendiary remarks. However, given the analysts' outspoken nature, one can assume a response will be coming soon so stay tuned.

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