NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley is the man to listen to if you want some hot takes on anything, especially basketball. He’s going to give it straight, and it will probably make your eyebrows raise.

In Barkley’s latest sizzling prediction, he claimed that a massive upset will ensue should the potential postseason match-up between the in-the-hunt Portland Trail Blazers and the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers occur.

“I’ma tell you this: If the Portland Trail Blazers get in the playoffs, they will beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.”

Watch the full segment below. Chuck was too hyped, had a smirk on his face the entire time, and couldn’t wait to share his bold take:

The two teams are indeed aligned to have a first-round battle. There are only eight seeding games before the playoffs, and it seems that in this scenario, the Blazers’ spot is the only thing missing.

Heading to the restart, the Blazers are 29-37 and ranked ninth in the Western Conference standings. They trail the current eighth seed, Memphis Grizzlies (32-33) by 3.5 games and also neck-and-neck with the 10th-seeded New Orleans Pelicans (28-36).

The Lakers, meanwhile, are sitting atop the West with a 49-14 slate. They have a strong chance at maintaining the season-long slot they’ve been in considering they are five games ahead of second seed LA Clippers (44-20).

Do the Blazers really have a chance?

Anything can happen, especially in the restart’s circumstance, where there’s really no home court advantage.

More than that, though, is the depth. Although the Blazers will be without their main ‘3 and D’ guy, Trevor Ariza, two key rotation players are likely back in action: big men Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins. Both are coming off serious injuries, but they will be a force if they prove to be in great shape, which could be a problem for a number of teams.

Nurkic and Collins are big, hustle players, and should be an interesting plug to a core that has the offensive firepower of Damian Lillard (28.9 PPG), CJ McCollum (22.5 PPG), and Carmelo Anthony (15.3 PPG), and the interior defense of Hassan Whiteside (16.3 PPG, 14.2 RPG, 1.9 BPG).

Over on the Lakers’ side, it feels like they may reel from the recent personnel losses. Starting defensive guard Avery Bradley has opted out of the restart and veteran playmaker Rajon Rondo is out for 6-8 weeks with a thumb injury.

How did the season series go?

They won’t be facing each other in the seeding games, which means the three-game season series has concluded. The Lakers won two of the three meetings.

December 7, 2019 – Lakers 136, Blazers 113

LeBron James and Anthony Davis score 31 and 39 points, respectively. The Lakers scored a season-high 110 points in the first three quarters and shot 54.1% for the game.

December 29, 2019 – Lakers 128, Blazers 120

The Lakers shot above 50% again. James, Davis, and Kyle Kuzma all had 20 or more points, and four different bench players scored in double-digits.

LeBron also dished out 16 assists, which was then a season-high.

February 1, 2020 – Blazers 127, Lakers 119

The Blazers finally respond as Lillard puts on a show. He dropped 48 points on 17-for-30 shooting and was one rebound shy of a triple-double.