Charles Barkley Took Shot at Knicks With Perfect Joke About Pacers' NBA Finals Success

Nobody is safe from the New York Knicks' head coaching search after the franchise reached out to five teams in hopes of interviewing their sitting head coaches. All of those requests? Denied.

New York's hopeful optimism led to plenty of jokes from basketball fans about the strategy the Knicks took to begin their search to replace Tom Thibodeau, who the team parted ways with after their run to the Eastern Conference finals this year. NBA analyst and basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley joked that the Knicks could be waiting out the conclusion of the NBA Finals to make even more unwanted requests.

"I know we got a long way to go, but if Rick [Carlisle] were to win, the only bad thing about it is the Knicks will ask for permission to talk to him," Barkley said on NBA TV pregame before Carlisle and his Indiana Pacers prepared for Game 4 Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. "Just being serious."

Carlisle, the longtime NBA head coach, has received endless praise over the offseason as he's helped lead the Pacers through the Eastern Conference and now to a lead in the NBA Finals over the league's best regular season team. Barkley's only kidding, but with how the Knicks have went about their coaching search, don't put anything past them.

More NBA Finals on Sports Illustrated