Charles Barkley is, to use one of his favorite words, a terrible sports bettor — and there is a growing collection of data to prove that point.
The TNT analyst has become somewhat infamous for issuing loud guarantees that usually fail to hit. StatMuse tracked them two seasons ago, finding that he went 10-for-25 on those proclamations.
Chuck’s final tally on his guarantees is 10/25.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) July 4, 2021
The ones he got right:
— BOS vs WAS PIT
— MIL vs MIA G2
— MIL 4-0 MIA
— PHX 4-2 LAL
— MIL vs BKN G7
— MIL vs ATL G2
— MIL vs ATL G3
— MIL vs ATL G4
— MIL vs ATL G5
— MIL vs ATL G6
He ended with 5 straight correct guarantees. pic.twitter.com/kMPzEAet3k
Barkley hasn't gotten much better since then, missing the mark on a ton of his postseason guarantees. That includes a guaranteed win for the Kings against the Warriors and a guaranteed win for the Heat in their Play-In game against the Hawks. (He did get one guarantee right, picking the Nuggets to beat the Lakers.)
In possibly bad news for Celtics and Nuggets fans, Barkley loves Boston in Game 5 against the Heat and Denver to win the championship.
“I cannot get to the FanDuel quick enough”
— br_betting (@br_betting) May 24, 2023
Chuck is ready to HAMMER the Celtics to win Game 5 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/wA15KJybg8
MORE: Jayson Tatum looks to add to impressive history in elimination games
Evaluating Charles Barkley's playoff picks, guarantees
It's difficult to track all of Barkley's guarantees because he randomly fires them off throughout TNT broadcasts. But one tip that comes like clockwork, either after the first or second timeout of TNT games, is his FanDuel bet.
Looking back at how Barkley's bets have performed in the month of May, the results aren't pretty.
As of the morning of May 25, Barkley is 0-5 on his FanDuel tips during the Conference Finals. He's also oftentimes betting favorites and losing anyway.
Barkley's Conference Finals tips include:
- The Celtics losing Game 4 (They won, 116-99)
- Jayson Tatum outscoring Jimmy Butler in Game 3 (Butler outscored Tatum, 16-14)
- The Celtics winning Game 3 (They lost, 128-102)
- The Celtics winning Game 2 (They lost, 111-105)
- Tatum outscoring Butler in Game 1 (Butler outscored, Tatum 35-30)
Barkley's bets are even more comical because of how passionately he delivers his picks. He's probably in on the joke, but it's funny nevertheless.
Barkley's record is better in the month of May as a whole, but he's still losing overall. He has had some spectacularly bad predictions.
His correct predictions from the Eastern Conference Semifinals include:
- The Knicks winning Game 5
- Tatum outscoring James Harden in Game 5
- The Knicks winning Game 2
His wrong ones are as follows:
- The Celtics winning Game 5 (They lost, 115-103)
- The Knicks winning Game 4 (They lost, 109-101)
- Al Horford having a big game in Game 2 (Horford had one of his worst games of the playoffs, scoring five points on 2-of-10 shooting)
- Tatum outscoring Harden in Game 1 (Harden had one of his best playoff games ever, scoring 45 points in a Sixers win)
Barkley's overall record for the month of May was 3-9. Twelve bets is a very small sample, but bettors would have made a killing with an inverse Barkley strategy of taking the opposite side of whatever bet he suggested.