Basketball great Charles Barkley once had plans to go into politics — in fact, he talked about a 2014 run for governor of Alabama a few years ago — but he makes it clear he has no interest in such a move now. "It's gotten too controversial, I'll be honest with you. People disagree on every subject," he says. "I really feel like I don't want to go in that direction."

Barkley does know he intends to hang up his microphone when his current deal as an analyst for TNT's "Inside the NBA" concludes in two years. "I've been doing this a long time — 17 years. That's plenty of time to be doing the same thing," says the back-to-back Emmy-winning commentator. "I love what I'm doing. I've got the best job in the world — getting paid to watch basketball. You can't beat that. I just think 17 years is a long time."

Viewers will be seeing Barkley doing something quite different come Friday, when the 6'6" Hall of Famer makes a special appearance on TNT's "Christmas in Washington," the annual festive concert traditionally attended by the President and First Lady and other DC bigwigs. This year's affair is being hosted by Hugh Jackman, with Sheryl Crow, The Backstreet Boys, Anna Kendrick, Janelle Monae and Pat Monahan also on the bill.

He's not really interested in acting. "I've had a lot of opportunities to do movies, but I don't feel that need to go somewhere and hang out for months."

There is, however, the possibility of another book that Barkley is envisioning. The author of "I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It," "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?" "Sir Charles: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley" and "Outrageous: The Fine Life and Flagrant Good Times of Basketball's Irresistible Force" says of his past writings, "Those are very personal to me. Books take a lot of energy. The only book I would be interested in writing now — would be going back and finding every player I've ever played with and writing about that. People ask me all the time, 'What happened to this guy?' 'What happened to that guy?'"

He adds, "My only concern is, some stories don't end well and I wouldn't want guys to think I'm going to try to take advantage of them." Such as? "Some of the guys have wound up in jail. Some of the guys have bad lives. I don't want those guys to think I'm trying to make big money on their struggles."

Especially since, as he notes, "Obviously, I've been blessed."