Charles Barkley appears to call Skip Bayless ‘idiot’ over Shannon Sharpe breakup

Given Charles Barkley has been a nemesis of Skip Bayless for decades, it should come as no surprise the NBA great is reveling over Shannon Sharpe’s impending breakup with the “Undisputed” star.

One day after The Post first reported that Sharpe and Fox Sports have reached a buyout agreement that will see the NFL Hall of Famer depart from the network sometime after the NBA Finals, Barkley addressed the fallout during NBATV’s studio program of the Nuggets-Heat series.

“I read an article today — if you work with a damn idiot, they’ll buy you out,” said Barkley, referencing Bleacher Report’s story of Sharpe’s exit.

Barkley joked the “idiot” he works with isn’t Shaquille O’Neal or Ernie Johnson on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” but rather Kenny Smith.

“I just want y’all to know, I’m open to the buyout,” Barkley exclaimed.

Though Barkley did not mention Bayless or Sharpe directly by name, it’s pretty apparent to whom the dig was aimed.

Prior to the news of Bayless and Sharpe’s future divorce, Barkley poked fun at the duo’s deteriorating partnership in January.

At the time, Sharpe was agitated with Bayless for interjecting in his monologue about Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest during a “Monday Night Football” game.

“I’m sick of you man. I’m sick of you,” Barkley told O’Neal, with a twinkle in his eye. “You interrupted Ernie already. Your first show of the year. You already interrupted him. Can he finish his monologue?”

Barkley has said some macabre things about Bayless over the years, even once stating he had dreams of killing the TV host.

On his self-titled podcast last year, Bayless said the thought of Barkley harming him has worried his wife, Ernestine.

“My wife Ernestine has believed for 15 years, that Charles Barkley is nothing but a sick individual,” Bayless said. “To her, he is just pure evil, that he is depraved, that he is a scumbag and she fears that one day, Charles will somehow … inspire some other nut to end my life. And this haunts her, this hurts her, because she believes that in the end, Charles Barkley would have my blood on his hands.”