Charles Barkley Says Klay Thompson Is the Second-Best Player in the NBA

Ranking the best players in the NBA is fun. But do you know what's even more fun than doing that? Complaining about someone else's rankings. Enter Charles Barkley, who kicked off the 2016-17 NBA season on Tuesday night by making a comment that left plenty of NBA fans scratching their heads.

Barkley was asked by his TNT co-host Kenny Smith to name the second-best player in the league. LeBron James is the player most people put at the top of their lists, but the second slot is often left up for debate. And Barkley went out on a limb by throwing Kawhi Leonard's name out there before ultimately settling on Klay Thompson. That means that Barkley thinks Thompson is a better player than his teammates Steph Curry and Kevin Durant as well as a handful of other star players.

"I would go with Kawhi Leonard or Klay Thompson," he said. "I think Klay Thompson is the best all-around player other than LeBron James in the NBA."

Shaq agreed with Barkley's assessment, but his response came as a surprise to both Smith and Ernie Johnson. Barkley slotted Leonard in his third slot and KD at four. He said Thompson deserved to be ranked ahead of Leonard because "he's a better offensive player."

You can watch Barkley make his case here: