"Ja Morant flashes guns everywhere" - Analyst blames NBA's next big stars flailing amid TV ratings struggles

The NBA might have a big problem on its hands. Ratings are reportedly down 19% from last season and fans continue to complain about the state of the game on social media.

Superstars are aging and there are legitimate concerns about who's going to keep the torch lit once players like LeBron James and Stephen Curry retire.

On his "Fearless with Jason Whitlock" show on Saturday, the NBA analyst said that it's because players are not carrying themselves as professionally as they should.

"They've lost the plot," Whitlock said. "They don't have compelling stories. Zion Williamson was supposed to be the next big thing — he's eaten his way out of that. They don't have anybody — Ja Morant flashes guns everywhere. He carried guns and went into a strip club, and he's decided to be a rapper more than he has wanted to be a compelling player."

He also believes that Caitlin Clark's surge has been detrimental to the NBA, as it's driven attention away from the league.

"And what they could not anticipate," Whitlock said. "Caitlin Clark has actually hurt the NBA. There used to not be anything interesting going on in basketball during those summer months. Well, we just had a very fascinating basketball story all summer with Caitlin Clark vs. the angry women of the WNBA."

Charles Barkley says the NBA season should start on Christmas

A lot of NBA legends, analysts and fans have had something to say about why the NBA's ratings are down.

Hall of Famer Charles Barkley believes the league shouldn't try to compete with the NFL. Instead, the season should start later in the year.

"The best ratings we've ever had was the year we went on strike and started on Christmas," Barkley said on Wednesday, via 'The Dan Patrick Show.' "I think we need to seriously consider starting at Christmas because you are wasting your time going up against the NFL and college football. They own the weekends now."

Barkley added that starting the season around Christmas would force people to watch, as they wouldn't have a lot of competition.

"But I think if we started at Christmas, there's no other sport we'd compete with," Barkley said. College football would be over, pro football is winding down, and we'd have the entire calendar in late December and January. ... June to ourselves. I think we need to seriously consider plain and simple. Listen, NFL's 'King Kong,' and you know they're greedy pigs."

Whether Adam Silver will listen to Barkley's suggestion remains to be seen.