Bill Russell has 11 rings, but he wasn’t showing off his ring finger.
The NBA legend was caught on live television flipping Charles Barkley the bird at the NBA’s end of year awards event Monday night.
Barkley was acknowledging the Celtics great in the audience and after saying, “Mr. Bill Russell, thank you,” the camera panned to a cheekily smiling Russell, who then lifted his middle finger.
The 11-time NBA champion, who is 84 years old, quickly became a social media darling for the stunt, especially after taking to Twitter to poke a little more fun at Sir Charles.
It isn’t the first time he’s been caught giving the finger, either. Chauncey Billups posted an Instagram photo from February showing a stone-faced Russell flipping off the cameraman.
Russell was only doing what Draymond Green, who had some beef with Barkley during the NBA Finals when the TNT commentator said he’d like to punch the Warriors star in the face, probably wishes he could have done a long time ago.
