Charles Barkley Says Of Course He Played With Gay Players, Everyone On NBA Has

Charles Barkley says that "of course" everyone in the NBA has played with gay players. Former basketball superstar and current analyst Charles Barkley is nonchalant about Jason Collins recently coming out.

 Jason Collins, NBA center, recently came out as the first openly gay athlete on a major American sports team. But Barkley says it's no big deal and that he's played with gay players before.

"Did you play with a gay teammate during your NBA career?" asked Dan Patrick.

"Yeah, of course I did," said Charles Barkley. "Everybody did."

"Everybody played with a gay teammate, Dan, and it's no big deal," said Barkley.

On "The Dan Patrick Show," Charles Barkley stated emphatically that he'd absolutely played alongside gay teammates. Radio host Dan Patrick asked Barkley what he thought of Collins coming out, and Barkley made it pretty clear that he didn't particularly care.

Barkley said that when he was a player, sexuality was discussed fairly often, but when it was, it was behind closed doors, out of reach of the public.

"Until somebody has the courage -- and I think it takes great courage to come out -- it's kind of an unspoken word, to be honest with you," said Barkley. "I had several [gay] teammates, I probably had three guys I played with in my 16 years."

Barkley said of Collins, "Think about Jason Collins. He played on six teams, so six teams played with a gay guy. And so, everybody has played with a gay guy, you just didn't know he was a gay guy. 'Cause until a gay guy comes out, it's none of your business," said Barkley

Charles Barkley continued to emphasize that sexuality had nothing to do with athletic abilities, so he didn't worry much about it. He made it clear that he was never worried about being picked up.

"First of all, I think it's an insult to gay people to think that they're trying to pick up their teammates, [and] everybody's played with a gay teammate," Charles Barkley said to Dan Patrick during the interview.

Collins, a 12-year NBA vet, became the first active male athlete in a professional team sport to publicly admit he's homosexual, when an article he wrote was published in Sports Illustrated last week.