Barkley Rips Miami Fans; Calls Players Whiny

Charles Barkley has developed quite the contentious relationship with Miami Heat fans over the past month.

In the latest jab on Wednesday, the TNT commentator deemed the crowd at American Airlines Arena the worst in the NBA. Last month, during the Chicago-Miami series, Heat fans responded to Barkley’s early (and outspoken) criticism of the Heat with boos and chants of “Barkley sucks” as the TNT crew sat outside the arena for pregame coverage.

TNT eventually opted to move the set indoors, but not before Barkley responded to the fans response with a single finger--the most notorious one.

"Yeah, they have the worst fans,” Barkley told the Waddle and Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 in Chicago on Wednesday. “No question. It's not even loud in there. You're at the game and you are like, 'Man this place isn't even loud.' At least when you go to Chicago, it's loud in there, it's crazy down in Dallas but it's not even loud in Miami."

According to Barkley, he doesn’t root against the Heat, but he certainly doesn’t root for them, either.

"Listen, if the Miami Heat were playing the Washington Generals I would pick the Washington Generals," Barkley said, laughing. "It's something about that team that annoys me."

"They just a whiny bunch and I can't root for them."

For the record, this is the second time Barkley has called Miami “a whiny bunch.”