TNT commentator and former NBA star Charles Barkley defended Lakers forward LeBron James against “unfair” criticism, following James’s comments on the NBA’s China controversy last week.

James made headlines last when he criticized Daryl Morey for his tweet in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The Lakers forward said Morey “wasn’t educated” on the issue, and he spoke of the “negative” side-effects of free speech.

Watch:

Lakers’ LeBron James on NBA’s China controversy: “I don’t want to get into a … feud with Daryl Morey but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke.” pic.twitter.com/KKrMNU0dKR — Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) October 15, 2019

James received tremendous backlash over the comments, much of which Barkley felt was “unfair.” Barkley told TMZ Sports, “Every major American company does business in China and it’s not fair to act like LeBron’s gonna save the world.”

Full credit to the TMZ photog for pressing Barkley. The former 76er and TNT host’s insistence that ones business interests should outweigh their social justice activism, is clearly an opinion that is held by James, the NBA, and Nike. One could argue Barkley is looking out for his business interests in defending James, considering Barkley’s business is the NBA and LeBron is the league’s most popular player.

The only question now, is why anyone would listen to any of them on any social or political issue ever again?

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn