back-handed compliment

He was among the best without a major, the back-handed compliment that acknowledges the talent and questions the heart.

OK, so maybe it’s a back-handed compliment.

Commenting on his janitorial outfit, Cardi B expressed surprise at D Smoke’s bilingual skills with a back-handed compliment: “You really impressed me, because when I saw you, I thought you was gonna mop some floors.”

Less a back-handed compliment than a front-handed insult, Hayes’ query presumes that James Harden—the 2018 NBA MVP, a three-time scoring champion, arguably the best offensive player of all time according to Rockets general manager Daryl Morey—is a force for basketball evil, or at least extreme basketball boredom.

It’s all part of the rather back-handed compliment of being recruited into the squad: you can be safely removed from your own time without fear of disrupting anything major, so habitual under-achievers suddenly become prime candidates.