National Basketball Association

Charles Barkley sums up Ryan Lochte's Rio saga with one quip

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:12 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

As the Ryan Lochte saga engrosses the entire sports world, everyone's weighing in with their two cents.

And there's no one we'd rather hear from in situations like this than NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley — a man with no filter, and a man who knows a thing or two about making dumb, violent decisions as an athlete that get you in trouble with the law.

On Thursday, Barkley joined the Rich Eisen show to talk about Lochte, USA Basketball and the Rio Olympics in general, and he claimed Lochte's lies have revealed that while being famous is usually awesome, it can suck if you trip up.

He doubled down on that comment for good measure:

Side note before we continue with Chuck's comments: Can we knock it off with this "Oh, that's just boys being boys!" mentality?

Olympic athletes dedicate their entire adult lives to their sport. There's little time to become well-rounded human beings who understand how this world actually works. I get that. But 99 percent of the Olympians in Rio aren't (allegedly) urinating on walls and breaking down doors. They're functional adults who understand we're all part of a larger society, and they take responsibility for their actions.

Lochte's 32 years old. He's not a kid. He's a grown man who has to take responsibility for his actions. Anyway!

When asked if Lochte could have done anything to avoid the situation, Barkley said that once the cat was out of the bag, the swimmer was in trouble:

Of course, going with the truth from the very beginning probably would have prevented this whole brouhaha — which just goes to show you that you should never, ever lie to your mother. Allegedly.