Charles Barkley assured Jay Williams they wouldn’t get arrested in Auburn.

And just like that, the former Auburn basketball star and NBA legend was off the rails during his ESPN interview courtside as Bruce Pearl’s Tigers defeated Bronny James and USC on Sunday.

“Anytime I come back to Auburn, it’s like I’m coming back for a family reunion,” said Barkley, who was in attendance for Auburn’s 91-75 win over USC. “I come to three or four football games a year and five or six basketball games a year. Auburn is one of the great places in the world.”

When Barkley was asked his hangout spot in Auburn, he tried to recruit Williams to join him.

“We going to Hamilton’s,” he said. “Hamilton’s is my spot in Auburn. Are you staying in town?

He said he was returning to his hometown of Leeds. He joked “Birmingham is a suburb of Leeds.”

“Jay, if you are going to stay, then I’ll stay. …

“Listen, they ain’t going to arrest me and you in Auburn, I’m pretty sure of that.”

Then came the recruiting pitch.

“In the words of the great (Auburn running back) Bo Jackson, we got diplomatic immunity,” he said. “They are not going to arrest me in Auburn. Listen I was with Bo Jackson a couple of years ago. He didn’t have his nametag on. The security guard says, ‘You need a name tag.’ Bo looks at him like, ‘I’m Bo Jackson. I got diplomatic immunity.’

“I looked at the security guard and I said, ‘He’s 100 percent right. He’s Bo Jackson.’

“If you stay down here, they ain’t gonna bother us. We can do anything. Legal or illegal.”

Williams was sure to send his wife a message during the ESPN broadcast. “I’m with Uncle Chuck.”

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Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.