With the Miami Heat off to a brutal 0-4 start to the regular season, many within the basketball world are looking to pinpoint the issues in the new-look team featuring star Giannis Antetokounmpo. As Heat captain Bam Adebayo has struggled to start the season, former player and star analyst Charles Barkley would have an opinion on the adjustment process needed with Antetokounmpo.

There's been a ton of theories about Miami's slow start, with one coming from former player Jeff Tegaue, who said Antetokounmpo is a great player, but “tough” to play with. The same point was made by Barkley on SiriusXM.

“He's a great player, but I think he's difficult to play with,” Barkley said. “They had the one good year with Jrue Holiday and Middleton. Those guys were kind of: Jrue could get the ball, distribute it, Middleton was their closer, but think about it, they haven't had a lot of success. Giannis is hard to play with. When you watch those games…he gets the ball, and he's going one-on-one every time. There's no ball movement. There's no body movement. Bam is just standing out there, and he's not a great three-point shooter.”

Charles Barkley says Giannis is DIFFICULT to play with 👀

“I think he’s difficult to play with. — We had them the first night, he gets the ball and he’s going 1 on 5 every time! There’s no ball movement, body movement. Bam is just standing out there. Hes a great player but he’d… pic.twitter.com/n0o3ssshT1

— Heat Central (@TheHeatCentral) October 28, 2026

Jeff Teague makes point on Heat's Giannis Antetokounmpo

As Barkley pointed out, Adebayo, who's one-half of the new dynamic duo with the Heat alongside Antetokounmpo, is still learning how to play with him. He's averaging 11.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, shooting 40 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Looking at the original point by Teague on the “Club 540” podcast, he would say that Antetokounmpo was a “very tough player to play with.”

“They could be decent, but Giannis got to change the way he plays,” Teague said. “Like I told y'all, it wasn't fun playing with Giannis. That doesn't mean he's not a great player. He's a phenomenal player, MVP; he's one of the best to ever do it, but he's a very tough player to play with.”

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It remains to be seen how Miami adapts as the team looks for its first win of the season on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks.