Charles Barkley’s first job of note came because of his skill on the court. He enjoys employment at the moment in part thanks to his penchant for saying ridiculous things.

But now, he may have opened his big mouth a little too far.

Yesterday, the Boston Celtics squared up against the Chicago Bulls. Barkley and his TNT co-anchors, as per usual, were on hand to give their thoughts.

And, in addition to the normal basketball commentary, Barkley just had to make it known that he thought very little of Celtic guard Isaiah Thomas’ grief over the untimely death of his sister.

TNT aired footage of the Celtics star crying during a Sunday shoot-around; Thomas, blinded by his tears, had to leave the court, and sat on the sidelines weeping alone until his teammate Avery Bradley came over to console him. 

The source of the tears was a car crash — on Saturday, Thomas’ sister, Chyna Thomas, was killed in an automobile accident.

Mourning the loss of his sister apparently was unacceptable to Barkley, who said, “I’m not feeling comfortable with him sitting on the sideline crying like that. That makes me uncomfortable because that tells me he’s not in shape to play … that makes me uncomfortable for him. That’s just not a good look.”

Well, Mr. Barkley, we’re sure that Thomas is deeply sorry to have inconvenienced you so. That his humanity made you feel so icky. That you had to witness a man struggling with the loss of his flesh and blood. That that made you uncomfortable. 

Thomas went on to score 33 points against the Bulls, although his team suffered a four point loss. Thomas has said he’ll play again for his team in the second game of the series, and will go home to be with his family directly after.

Bradley, for his part, told Mass Live that, “Me and Isaiah have known each other since we were kids. So we’re just family. And no matter what goes on we’re always going to have each other’s back. We’re always going to be there for one another.”

See Charles, that how you show support for the bereft. Take a page out of Bradley’s book. And if doing so too makes you uncomfortable, maybe next time make the rest of us a little more comfortable, and keep your comments to yourself.

Boston CelticsCharles-BarkleyChicago-BullsChyna ThomasIsaiah ThomasTNT