Charles Barkley isn’t buying the Houston Rockets as a serious Western Conference threat heading into the 2026-27 season.
In an interview with Casino Guru’s Kyle Odegard, Barkley unloaded on his former team and said he sees a bigger picture forming in the West - one that leaves Houston on the outside looking in.
“I don’t think about them at all… They’re not any good. They’ve got no leadership, and they don’t have a style of play,” said Barkley on what he thinks about the Rockets going into the 2026-27 season.
He didn’t stop there. Barkley went even further, saying the conference race is already tilting toward Oklahoma City and San Antonio for years to come.
“It’s over with,” he told Odegard. “It’s all about OKC and San Antonio for the next few years in the West.”
He pointed to the Thunder’s run to the Western Conference Finals as proof they’re already close to the top of the mountain.
“OKC is right there,” Charles Barkley said about the Thunder losing in the Western Conference Finals. “They didn’t have their second-best player (Jalen Williams), and they still took them seven games.”
“It’s going to be between those two teams the next five years, easily,” he concluded on the Western Conference before diving into the Spurs.
Barkley also addressed the Spurs’ controversial ending to the NBA Finals, when Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio drew criticism for walking off Game 5 without shaking hands. Barkley said he admired Wembanyama, but didn’t like what he saw from the Spurs at the end.
“I love Wemby,” he said. “I was disappointed with the way he finished the Finals, the way he disrespected the press, and not congratulating the winners. But I think he’s a great kid and he’s got a great future.”
The Rockets’ situation makes Barkley’s criticism easy to understand. Houston is trying to juggle veteran expectations from Kevin Durant with the rise of younger players such as Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., and Amen Thompson. That kind of setup can work, but only if the hierarchy is clear.
If everyone is expected to lead, the whole thing can get messy fast. A team needs an accepted order on both ends of the floor, especially when a superstar joins a young roster that still wants to grow while also letting its stars be stars.
The Spurs’ Finals exit sparked a different kind of debate. Some will see their reaction as plain unsportsmanlike.
Others will call it competitive fire. Either way, the episode can be chalked up to youth and inexperience.
As the 2026-27 season approaches, Barkley’s view leaves two Texas teams under the microscope: San Antonio, which he believes is built for the future, and Houston, which now has to show it can prove him wrong.
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