Charles Barkley calls out NCAA, NIL in question to Adam Silver

College athletics have morphed pretty dramatically over the past few years with the adoption of the NCAA transfer portal and the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) reform.

Not always for the best.

Many have discussed the pitfalls of NIL, in particular, and how it has turned the college game into a wild marketplace that has few rules and regulations when it comes to what players can be paid, how they can be paid or what they can be paid for.

The situation has even taken the eye of noted NBA analyst Charles Barkley, a former superstar at Auburn.

While discussing the topic on the TNT set at the NBA All-Star game on Sunday night, Barkley highlighted some of the issues and openly wondered what can be done about NIL, particularly when it comes to the NBA and its affiliate leagues.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen beyond the G League and things like that,” Barkley said, turning his focus to NBA commissioner Adam Silver. “We screwed up college sports with the NIL thing. What can we do, the NBA, to get together with the colleges, because it is the wild, wild west on steroids literally between you’ve got college coaches leaving to take assistant jobs in the NFL and things like that because they don’t want to have to pay all these college players.

“We’re going to have to do something. Can you get together with the NCAA, because the NCAA, they’re boneheads. You know, the reason I call them boneheads, they always reactive and once you react to something it’s already out of control. So what do you think we’re going to be able to do between the NIL and the G League?”

Silver didn’t necessarily provide a direct answer but certainly acknowledged some of the challenging issues facing college athletics — and what those issues could mean down the road for the quality of the product in the NBA.

The commissioner pointed to the disparity in state laws governing NIL as a starting off point.

“Well the NCAA has a relatively new leader, a guy named Charlie Baker,” Silver said. “He used to be the governor of Massachusetts. And I think he was brought in to truly be a leader not be reactive. He and I have sat down several times. He’s based here in Indianapolis. He’s going to be at the game tonight. He and I have had a bunch of conversations about how we can come together in youth basketball.

“I know he is frankly looking to change the whole system because now not just is it complicated with NIL and collective but it differs from state to state. We all know what the NBA is about is competition and you’re quickly going to have the haves and have nots — whether its college football or college basketball — where some teams will be playing by one set of rules and a whole separate team will be playing by a separate set of rules because they won’t be able to afford to compete.”

That is one of the massive issues facing college athletics right now. Even some traditional powers are struggling to raise enough NIL funding to field competitive rosters.

It has shifted the dynamic in college sports considerably.

But that also threatens the professional leagues, because of what college sports do for players.

“We’re dependent. For the domestic US players, without a great development system — you guys didn’t just fall of the turnip truck,” Silver said. “You guys all came up through incredible systems that developed you into NBA players. We’re seeing that internationally. I think there’s a reason why you’re seeing so many top-notch players coming in the league now so skilled. It’s not just the college level. We gotta address youth basketball in this country. There’s a whole big ecosystem that we have to fix.”

Unfortunately, that sounds like a lot of words to say this is all very complicated and easy solutions aren’t necessarily there to be found. But at least the right people are talking about the issues at this point.