NBA Legend Charles Barkley Calls Out Joey Porter Jr Over Steelers Situation

With the Pittsburgh Steelers trading Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys, there's no debate that Pittsburgh is a worse team because of it. It's unfortunate that Pittsburgh put itself in this position, but it isn't uncommon in the NFL. 

The Cowboys know it better than anyone, having failed to give Micah Parsons, whom many consider a much better player than Porter, a contract.

Porter also bears a lot of blame in this situation, as he didn't even want to play for Pittsburgh and kept citing injuries, despite being traded to the Cowboys and playing a couple of days after the deal. 

That's a problem, but it's not something the Steelers could control. If he was saying that he wasn't healthy and didn't want to play, there really wasn't much more to it than eventually trading him, which is exactly what they rightfully did. 

As for how some other former professional athletes feel, that's never the right thing to do, and sometimes it can sit wrong with guys. 

That includes Charles Barkley, the former NBA superstar who had a lot to say about the matter.

"Well, you can't ever quit on your team," Barkley said about Porter, H/T USA Today. "I know we all want trades. We all have contract situations, but your obligation is to the players in that locker room. Listen, the fans are great. The owners, they are what they are, they're businessmen. But you never quit on your teammates."

"Obviously, something was going on," Barkley said. "Between Pittsburgh and Dallas, he got really dang healthy quickly, didn't he? They must've been serving some good stuff on that airline. I truly believe — I've been in really bad situations before, my last three or four years in Philly, to be honest with you, were brutal. You get dressed with those guys. You're on the plane with those guys. You're on the buses and things. I would've handled it differently."

Like a lot of these owners, the NFL is a business, and players will rightfully try to protect themselves. 

Perhaps Porter didn't feel great in Pittsburgh, but decided to play along with it a bit more than things were led to believe.

Now that he's in Dallas, he has a chance to continue showing he's one of the better corners in the NFL. 

If he keeps that up, he'll be in a great position to get paid next season, despite not wanting to play in Pittsburgh when he seemingly was healthy enough to do so.