Charles Barkley learned his lesson, is "on the wagon" and shouldn't have any trouble staying away from the blackjack tables at Lake Tahoe casinos next month when he plays in the 19th annual celebrity golf tournament, Jason Kidd said Wednesday.

Barkley, the former NBA star and current basketball analyst for Turner Network Television, was sued by a Las Vegas Strip casino in May after he failed to pay 400 thousand dollars in gambling loans. He repaid the money along with a 40 thousand dollar processing fee to the district attorney's office and announced he wasn't going to gamble for "the next year or two."

Kidd, the Dallas Mavericks point guard who has been selected to play on the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing in August, said Barkley was keeping to his word at the end of last month when he saw him at a golf tournament in Palm Springs, Calif.

"We were at a casino and he said he was on the wagon," Kidd told reporters during a teleconference call promoting the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe July 11-13.

"He's strong. He didn't gamble. I think Charles, once he decides not to do something, I think he's pretty good at keeping his word," Kidd said.

"As much as Charles can sit there and talk — and everybody likes to listen to him talk — I think he'll be fine at Tahoe. I think he has learned his lesson. I think he can afford that mistake and now he can more forward," he said.

Barkley played 16 NBA seasons for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, and played on the USA Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992 and 1996. He was an 11-time NBA All-Star and was league MVP in 1993.

He has talked openly about his gambling, estimating during a May 2006 interview with ESPN that he'd gambled away about million over the years.

"For right now, the next year or two, I'm not going to gamble," Barkley said last month. "Just because I can afford to lose money doesn't mean I should do it."

Barkley, who typically finishes near the bottom at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, has been made a 500-1 longshot to win this year. Kidd's odds to win are 100-1.

"I'm just going to try and improve on last year's score and make sure I finish ahead of Charles, which is not a hard thing to do," Kidd said.

Watch Charles Barkley Apologize for his Gambling