Charles Barkley Tells An Incredible Story Of How Even He Tried To Help Johnny Manziel Get It Together

Johnny Manziel has been offered a lot of help over the past several months, all of which he’s pretty much refused.

However, one person who tried to help get JFF back on track comes as a bit of a surprise as it was none other than Charles Barkley.

Speaking to 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia on Wednesday Barkley relayed the story of a run-in he had with Manziel on the night he got into a fight at a club in Las Vegas.

Reports Crossing Broad

So about a month ago, we had a few days off in the playoffs… So me and my boys went to Vegas for a couple days. So I’m sitting at the table next to Johnny Manziel. We had met before in Cleveland but I don’t know him, don’t claim to know him. So he sends one of his guys over saying Johnny wants to come talk to you for a minute… So Johnny comes over and I said ‘Johnny, man you’re screwing up your life, man. I’m not your dad, I’m not gonna try to lecture you. I’m just telling you I had a brother who passed away at a young age. Drugs and alcohol got him. It’s gonna end like a bad movie.

He said ‘Man I just like to have fun,’ and I said ‘Johnny we all like to have fun, at some point it’s out of control.’ I said ‘don’t screw up your career, and I’m worried about your life’… My mom, when my brother passed away, I thought she quit living after that happened. I felt bad for her, and I don’t wanna feel bad for your mom and dad if something happens to you man, stop being selfish. He said ‘You know what, I’m gonna try and do better.’

So it’s about two o’clock in the morning. I got the plane waiting at the airport cause I got to get to Oklahoma City. So me and my boys stay there for a couple more hours. I’m driving to the airport, and on the radio: Breaking News, Johnny Manziel arrested at a nightclub in Vegas… My friends, they were riding me like ‘Yeah, you’re a good mentor, the guy gets arrested three hours after talking to you.’

Barkley knows of what he was speaking about when talking to Manziel that night too.

As a guy who has a brother who is dead from drugs and things like that, it’s very personal to me. I feel sadness to tell you the truth. It’s like a bad movie because you know how it’s gonna end… You sit around and say to yourself ‘When are these guys gonna realize it’s not a matter of if it’s just a matter of when?’ Why do these guys keep thinking they can beat drugs?… You see it with Michael Jackson, you saw it with Prince, you saw it with Philip Seymour Hoffman. If you’re trying to beat drugs and alcohol, it’s just a matter of when you’re gonna lose. I feel sadness.

If Charles freaking Barkley can’t get through to you, let alone your own dad, what hope does Johnny Manziel really have at this point? The answer is, unfortunately, not much.

H/T Larry Brown Sports

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Before settling down at BroBible, Douglas Charles, a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks), owned and operated a wide assortment of websites. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT.