#Draymond Green, Charles Barkley get right to the elephant in the room

As members of a panel for TNT’s new nightly show, “The Arena,” which was launched to follow the restart of the NBA season, Charles Barkley and Draymond Green had no choice but to address their often-contentious relationship.

“I’ve said many times, I like Draymond, I do,” the 57-year-old Barkley said, according to USA Today. “He does annoy me at times on the court, because you’ve gotta ask him if he’s ever committed a foul.”

Barkley once described Green as the “least famous person in the boy band,” referring to his status on the Warriors team that appeared in five straight NBA Finals. The three-time NBA champion fired back shortly after, claiming Barkley was “jealous” of him.

So when the two were paired up for the new TNT show, alongside former NBA star Dwayne Wade and analyst Cari Champion, it was impossible to avoid discussing the evolution of their longstanding feud.

“The issue that I’ve had is, a lot of people watch the game of basketball, and don’t know what they’re looking at. So when they look at a Chuck or they look at different guys who has these platforms, they take what you’re saying and they listen to that and they run with that,” Green said. “So where as for me, it hasn’t necessarily affected my pockets, but there are a lot of guys in this league that people run with what guys say on these platforms, and it affects guys’ pockets, and that’s the issue that I’ve had.

“It’s similar to like Javale McGee when he came out with Shaq, (Shaquille O’Neal) and said ‘this is altering my career,’ and I think that’s what we have to understand.”

Even though the tension seemed to be diffused during Monday night’s broadcast, Green clarified that Barkley isn’t exactly his best friend all of a sudden.

“He’s not a friend of mine,” Green told USA Today. “He’s not someone whose opinion matters to me. So there is not a need to hash anything out.

“This isn’t about me vs. Chuck. This is about continuing to bring awareness to the issues that we face as Black Americans. That’s what it’s about for me. Nonetheless, what moment transpires out of us being on the same set, I don’t know. But I think it will be good TV. That’s what matters at the end of the day. We’ll all come together and put out a good product.”