Barkley’s Attitude Never Goes Out of Style

Attention airlines: Don’t lose Charles Barkley’s luggage, particularly if he is headed for a guest appearance on the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Barkley flew from Phoenix to Los Angeles on Wednesday before traveling to Atlanta for his usual Thursday night gig on TNT. Somehow, his luggage didn’t arrive at LAX when Barkley did.

Instead of wearing a sweatsuit on the show, he decided at the last minute to make a bit out of his lost clothes and wear a black shirt and black pants supplied by NBC.

“Your people think these clothes look good,” he told Leno on the air after explaining his luggage got lost and naming the airline in an unflattering fashion.

Epilogue: The airline finally delivered Barkley’s luggage to him at NBC -- after the taping and 5 1/2 hours after he landed.

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Trivia time: Who won more NBA MVP awards, Barkley or Jerry West?

Edge to Spurs: On the limo ride from his Beverly Hills hotel to the Leno show at NBC studios in Burbank, Barkley, never short of opinions, offered a few.

Barkley, who said before the season he thought San Antonio would win the NBA championship again, said he hasn’t changed his mind. But he thinks the Lakers can win it if Shaquille O’Neal gets enough touches.

“The problem with the Lakers is, now they have more guys to keep the ball out of Shaq’s hands,” Barkley said.

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Easy choice: About being famous, Barkley said, “People say I enjoy being famous. I don’t. But what choice do I have? I can either mope around or I can enjoy life. I’ve chosen to enjoy life.”

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No common sense: Barkley on Rasheed Wallace’s comments about NBA players being exploited: “That’s so irresponsible and stupid it’s unbelievable. He’s making $17 million a year. I mean, where’s the common sense? That’s what bothers me.”

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Target practice: Barkley had this to say about the New Orleans Saints’ Joe Horn and his cell-phone celebration Sunday: “If I had had a gun, I would have shot my TV. What gets me, he had to devote a lot of thought and preparation to that stunt when he should have been thinking and preparing for the game.”

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More on Horn: The New York Giants’ Michael Strahan, appearing on NFL Network’s “Total Access,” said this about the Saint receiver’s antics: “They should have fined him 50 grand or 100 grand.... You don’t get out there on national TV and try to embarrass my young bucks like that. Had I seen it, I would’ve gone over there and got him, because I can afford to pay the fine. I would’ve gone over there and taken him out.”

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Cost saver: From Sean Smith of the Boston Globe: “Hopefully, Horn used 10-10-220 to lessen the hit of the impending fine.”

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Trivia answer: Barkley. He was the 1992-93 MVP with the Phoenix Suns. West never won an MVP award.

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And finally: Leno’s take on Horn’s cellphone celebration: “The San Diego Chargers also used a cellphone in their game on Sunday. They were calling to get directions to the end zone.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.