After 'dead man walking' tirade, Charles Barkley doubles down on JJ Redick's Lakers

Former NBA MVP and HOFer Charles Barkley minced no words when he lambasted the LA Lakers following their blowout 118-97 loss to the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. The Purple and Gold were trounced by a side with key stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving battling injuries on the sidelines.

PJ Washington and Quentin Grimes combined for 45 points with substantial contributions from Klay Thompson (13 points), former Laker Spencer Dinwiddie (19 points), and Jaden Hardy (15 points) to decimate LA at the American Airlines Center as Dallas snapped its five-game losing streak.

Speaking on Inside the NBA on TNT, Barkley called out LA for their paltry performance:

"The Lakers proved what I’ve kept saying. The Lakers stink, plain and simple. We got to speak about them because the media is infatuated with the Lakers. But the Lakers are not a good team. They have zero athletic ability. When you watched them, Jason Kidd coached a masterpiece tonight."

On the game front, the Mavericks exploited LA's defense despite Anthony Davis' DD2 (21 points and 12 rebounds), and LeBron James (18 points and 10 assists). Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht had 15 and 13 points respectively.

LA is now staring at two consecutive losses after an impressive December campaign saw them make the top five in a stacked West. They now slip a rung to stay sixth seed with a 20-16 record.

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"It sucks": LeBron James rues Lakers loss to short-handed Mavericks

Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the game, LeBron James made no secret of the fact that the loss stung. Their Texas trip ended in dismay with losses against the Houston Rockets and the Mavericks.

Per ESPN, the 4x NBA champion also explained how they were beaten. While at it he also added that LA had to find a way to shake off the loss.

"I mean, it sucks, obviously, especially knowing where we were and how well we've been playing. "I felt like they just put people in pick-and-roll who they wanted in pick-and-roll and they tried to exploit matchups. And when we got into rotations, we didn't make enough second efforts.

"We got another game in, s**t less than 48 hours. So, we can't really dwell on it too much. That's the name of the game of the NBA. You see what you could've done better, but you got to get ready for the next opponent and we got another game coming on Thursday in our home building."

James and Co. return to Los Angeles for their next eight games—seven at Crypto.com Arena and their maiden debut at Intuit Dome to play the LA Clippers -- starting with the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday.