Fans in Disbelief Over Charley Barkley NIL Confession to Auburn

Charles Barkley is making waves on social media again amid a stunning admission over the limits of NIL funding for his beloved Auburn Tigers.

Barkley was a star player at Auburn in the 1980s before he embarked on a Hall of Fame career in the NBA and garnered additional fame as part of TNT’s Emmy-winning “Inside the NBA” studio show. He has always given back to Auburn, especially as the men’s basketball program has ascended to elite status under head coach Bruce Pearl.

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But in a new interview with WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama, Barkley has called the “notion” that he will give “legal or illegal” millions each year to Auburn University “the stupidest thing” he has ever heard.

“I’ve been rich for a long time. I plan to stay that way. But the notion that I’m going to give Auburn millions of dollars every year so we can be good at sports, that’s just not going to happen,” Barkley told “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Wednesday.

By one estimate, Barkley’s net worth is roughly $80 million. But though he insisted he will continue to give money to the school, Barkley has drawn a red line as it pertains to his own contributions to the NIL collective — even after the men’s basketball team reached the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament.

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“I’m really proud of what I’ve given Auburn and I’m going to continue to give them money, but I’m not going to give them millions of dollars every year so we can be good at sports,” Barkley said. That’s just stupid.”

Barkley’s comments turned heads on social media. One user on X wrote that “Barkley blowing up his own school’s collective is peak Charles Barkley,” while another sarcastically commented on Barkley’s admission that he was a booster prior to the NIL era

One user expressed confusion that Barkley was opposed to giving millions of his own dollars every year, and @jcasey1977 called on the NCAA to put “rules and conditions” in place with respect to NIL collectives. Another speculated that Pearl was “begging for more money” to continue competing following the departures of Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara from the Final Four team.

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One X user even saw fit to offer Chuck a little financial advice.

“Chuck, you should work on setting up your giving as an annuity,” wrote @TinyToothDDS. “That way it can sustain payouts long term.

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