Charles Barkley absolutely had no issues with legend Bill Russell flipping the bird at him during the NBA awards ceremony:

While speaking to Jim Rome on his podcast, the NBA Hall of Famer had this to say about Bill Russell giving him the finger:

“I thought it was one of the coolest things ever to happen to me, because Bill’s a mentor, he’s like a father to me and he does that to everybody. It meant a lot to me, because if you know Bill, well, I don’t even call him Bill, Mr. Russell, he is one of the best people ever. And I was laughing so hard I almost couldn’t keep reading, cause I was just naming all the people at his table, before I got to give a award to Mr. (Oscar) Robertson, but I almost fell outta, I almost feel I was laughing so hard inside, because I didn’t want to stop, and interrupt Mr. Robertson getting his lifetime achievement award, but I thought it was pretty funny, no, I thought it was really funny and I thought it was hilarious.”

Charles is a good sport. He’s exactly the kind of guy you give the finger to in a fun way.