Nonstop fun just begins for Barkley

TNT’s Charles Barkley, one of the NBA’s leading ambassadors, did double duty Wednesday in promoting the league’s marquee event, All-Star weekend.

His first stop after arriving from his home in the Phoenix area was the NBC studios in Burbank, where he taped a segment with Jay Leno for that night’s edition of “The Tonight Show.”

From there, it was off to Hollywood through rush-hour traffic to tape a segment for ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” which will be shown tonight.

Wednesday was a fun day for Barkley, who will be even busier for this weekend’s TNT coverage of the All-Star game and all the hoopla surrounding it.

Leno, after congratulating Barkley on his induction into basketball’s Hall of Fame, kidded him about his upcoming footrace for charity with 67-year-old referee Dick Bavetta, chided him about his gambling and weight, and shared laughs.

There were more laughs at the Kimmel taping and afterward Barkley was relaxing in the green room with some friends he had invited to the taping, including Cindy Westphal, whose husband, Paul, coached Barkley for four seasons with the Phoenix Suns.

Then a serious topic came up. Danielle Greene, ABC vice president of late night, read on her BlackBerry a wire service report about former NBA player Tim Hardaway saying on a Miami radio station that he “hated gay people.”

When Barkley was told this, he was aghast.

“I feel sorry for Tim Hardaway,” he said. “For any person to say something like that is ignorant and stupid. It’s like saying you hate blacks, or you hate whites or Jewish people.

“It might be OK to say you disagree with that lifestyle, but to say you hate a whole group of people is just plain ignorant.”

By Thursday morning, Barkley was off to Las Vegas, site of this weekend’s NBA activities. A number of interviews with national and local media were already set up for him, including one with 72-year-old Jenny Hughes for a new website, theV.tv, about everything happening in Las Vegas.

There is also a morning training session scheduled with former Olympic sprinter John Carlos.

Barkley, meanwhile, is having fun with the challenge from Bavetta, but he is also aware of the grief he will take if he loses the match race. Actually, he realizes he’ll take grief either way.

“I have nothing to gain,” he said on the way to the Leno taping Wednesday. “I can only lose. Everyone will be rooting for Bavetta.”

The challenge started Jan. 4, when Barkley was courtside at Sacramento in a rare role as game commentator when the Lakers played the Kings. Barkley, who turns 44 on Tuesday, couldn’t resist making a crack about Bavetta’s age, which led the referee to challenge Barkley to a footrace.

It will be taped Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center and shown during TNT’s “All-Star Saturday” coverage, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

The race will be 235 feet, or 78.3 yards. It will be from baseline to baseline and back to the half-court line. In conjunction with the race, TNT and the NBA are each donating $25,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas.

Short waves

All-Star weekend gets going today at 4 p.m. with ESPN televising the celebrity game. Among the participants will be James Denton, who stars as Mike on ABC’s “Desperate Housewives.” Denton says he was a pretty good high school player in Goodlettsville, Tenn., “but that was 25 years ago.” He knows one thing: “Someone is bound to make a crack about me taking a desperation, or desperate, shot.”

After the celebrity game, TNT takes over with the game between NBA rookies and second-year players, beginning at 6 p.m. Miami Heat All-Star Dwyane Wade will serve as a guest analyst.

Saturday’s TNT coverage begins at 2 p.m. with two hours featuring the “Inside the NBA” cast of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Magic Johnson and Barkley at Caesars Palace. Then there’s a feature on the game’s most spectacular dunks leading up to the All-Star Saturday competition, which begins at 5:30 and includes the three-point shootout and slam-dunk competition.

The main event, the All-Star game, is Sunday at 5 p.m. on TNT, with Marv Albert, Doug Collins and Steve Kerr announcing at courtside.

Magic Johnson will never forget the 1992 All-Star game, which took place three months after he announced he had HIV.

“There were hugs from both sides, and that was something I really needed, that more than the game,” he said on the phone. “Then to go three for three from three-point range and be named MVP -- that’s a memory I’ll have forever. That game helped me be here 15 years later.”

NASCAR’s marquee event is also this weekend -- the Daytona 500. Fox’s pre-race coverage begins at 11 a.m. Sunday, with the green flag scheduled to be waved at 12:15 p.m. ESPN makes its return to NASCAR with coverage Saturday at 10 a.m. of the Busch Series Orbitz 300.

The other big event this weekend, at least here in Los Angeles, is the Nissan Open at Riviera. Second-round coverage will be on the Golf Channel today at noon, with the final two rounds on CBS at noon Saturday and Sunday.

CBS announced Thursday that former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher will be joining the network as an analyst for “The NFL Today” pregame show.

larry.stewart@latimes.com