On today’s episode, Jason and Producer Rob G kick things off with a deep dive into Kevin Durant’s case as the Best Player in the World coming off his virtuoso performance against Australia in the Olympics. This isn't a new discussion by any means but it is worth talking about given that everybody seems to have a different criteria when defining the Best Player in the World. Does he have to be a guy that you can drop on a team of scrubs and instantly make them contenders? If so, Luka Doncic and LeBron James probably have a better case than Durant. Does he have to have won a championship? KD has two, but people still rip him for the way he got them. Is it something that is generally decided by your peers? If that's the case, then the way all his Olympics teammates deferred to him against Australia should make KD a lock. Later, the guys take Charles Barkley to task for suggesting that LeBron James should be eliminated from the GOAT conversation because he’s always played on stacked teams. This is such an odd thing to say considering Barkley himself forced his way to Super Teams twice (Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets) after starting his career playing alongside multiple Hall of Famers. Talk about a hypocrite. What’s more, Barkley decided that Michael Jordan should be held in higher regard than LeBron because he had to struggle in Chicago before finally breaking through and winning his rings… while conveniently leaving out the fact that by the time MJ starting winning, his Chicago Bulls were the Super Team of that era.

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<p>On today’s episode, Jason and Producer Rob G kick things off with a deep dive into Kevin Durant’s case as the Best Player in the World coming off his virtuoso performance against Australia in the Olympics. This isn't a new discussion by any means but it is worth talking about given that everybody seems to have a different criteria when defining the Best Player in the World. Does he have to be a guy that you can drop on a team of scrubs and instantly make them contenders? If so, Luka Doncic and LeBron James probably have a better case than Durant. Does he have to have won a championship? KD has two, but people still rip him for the way he got them. Is it something that is generally decided by your peers? If that's the case, then the way all his Olympics teammates deferred to him against Australia should make KD a lock. Later, the guys take Charles Barkley to task for suggesting that LeBron James should be eliminated from the GOAT conversation because he’s always played on stacked teams. This is such an odd thing to say considering Barkley himself forced his way to Super Teams twice (Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets) after starting his career playing alongside multiple Hall of Famers. Talk about a hypocrite. What’s more, Barkley decided that Michael Jordan should be held in higher regard than LeBron because he had to struggle in Chicago before finally breaking through and winning his rings… while conveniently leaving out the fact that by the time MJ starting winning, his Chicago Bulls were the Super Team of that era.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com">https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com</a>

Fox Sports’ Jason McIntyre sets the agenda for the day by providing bold opinions on the biggest stories in sports including the day’s biggest sports betting topics. Straight Fire also features insiders and newsmakers as contributing guests.

Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre

Kevin Durant's Case for Best Player in the World & The Hypocrite Charles Barkley

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/874bdfd3-5c98-48cf-86bf-ae310173a3ac/transcript

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