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Charles Barkley may have just revealed the end of Joel Embiid's All-Star starter campaign

Kelly Dwyer
Joel Embiid turns on the radio. (Getty Images)
Joel Embiid turns on the radio. (Getty Images)

The gleefully-charming Joel Embiid’s candidacy for a starting nod on the Eastern Conference All-Stars may have just ended, with the news coming from the mouth of a superstar that alternates between sourpuss and sweet.

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Charles Barkley, appearing on Philadelphia-area radio on Wednesday, may have just given away the exclusions for the fan/media/players-voted All-Star starting lineups a day before he and his TNT cohorts were set to announce them officially on Thursday’s ‘Inside the NBA.’

Via Philly.com’s Rob Tornoe, here’s Barkley on Anthony Gargano’s show on 97.5 The Fanatic:

“I can’t tell you who’s on the list, because now we’ve got to work on our reserves,” Barkley said. “I think there’s an outside chance that I’m going to put [Embiid] on my all-star reserves, just because I think he’s reinvigorated the Sixers and the city of Philadelphia.”

“I haven’t made a final decision yet,” Barkley continued. “But there’s an outside chance I’m going to pick him as a reserve.”

Listen here:

Nobody should usually care about All-Star starters. Divvying up the positions for the affair is a maddening-enough proposition even as it is, prior to the recollection that you’d be doing as much for an exhibition affair on basic cable. The chatter can be deadening.

Embiid’s (mostly) Twitter campaign for the position, in his rookie year with Philadelphia’s 76ers, was something else. It started with him taking a throwback look at this tweet …

… prior to using it as motivation to send the 22-year old to the game in his hopes to meet date a young lady that is most definitely Rihanna …

… despite averaging just 25 minutes a game, working 28 times in comparison to Philly’s 39 games played.

Those numbers are due to a minutes restriction, which was rumored to be due to let up around Christmas prior to it being established recently that Embiid will be on watch for the rest of his rookie season. This comes after missing what would have been his first two NBA campaigns with a series of foot setbacks.

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The Sixers resemble a playoff team with Embiid on the court, as the squad even flirted with the idea of making the postseason (for the first time since making the Eastern semifinals in 2012) despite adhering to Embiid’s minutes limitation. He averages nearly 20 points and 2.4 blocks as it is, making it so just about any way you look at his numbers an All-Star candidacy seems appropriate.

And, as Charles Barkley reminded, he’s brought a joie de vivre to a moribund franchise. One that has gotten behind its franchise player.

At least Barkley, a man without a vote, has given him his nod for a reserve spot.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!