Charles Barkley shot down Kobe Bryant’s claim that this year’s U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team could defeat the 1992 “Dream Team” squad, ESPN reports. Barkley even said that the Dream Team–which boasted superstars such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird — would beat the current Team USA by at least 10 points.
“Oh yeah, that’s no disrespect,” Barkley said. “I ain’t got to badmouth them. But like I said, their point guards weren’t going to beat us. That’s a no-brainer.”
One of Bryant’s main arguments was the age of the Dream Team members. Bryant said that while some of the ’92 players were “kind of at the end of their career,” and the current squad has “a bunch of race horses.”
Sir Charles scoffed at this, saying, “How old is Kobe Bryant? He’s 34? And he’s calling us old? At the time, we were only like 28, 29. Michael Jordan and me were the same age. We were both 29.”
Barkley not only stated that the Dream Team would win, but also said that only three player on the 2012 team could have played in the 1992 Olympics.
“Other than Kobe, LeBron [James] and Kevin Durant, I don’t think anybody else on that team makes our team,” Barkley said.
Watch Bryant’s original statement in the video below: