“I didn’t punch Charles Barkley but I did slap the sh*t out of him”: Charles Oakley breaks down his altercation with the Suns forward from 30 years ago

Charles Oakey claims that he never punched Charles Barkley and only slapped the ‘you know what’ out of him in 1990. 

Charles Oakley didn’t receive the moniker of ‘The Enforcer’ by happenstance. Oakley earned this nickname with the way he played the game. His physical style of play elevated to another level upon reaching the New York Knicks and being under the tutelage of the mastermind behind the Showtime Lakers, Pat Riley. 

Charles Barkley wasn’t a slouch either when it came to being a tough and gritty player in the NBA. When he wasn’t living up to the moniker of ‘Round Mound of Rebound’, Barkley was throwing guys out of windows and regretting that the window wasn’t high enough off the ground.

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Both Barkley and Oakley, given their ‘explosive’ personalities, would get into an altercation during a 1990 players only meeting, leading to Oak slapping the 1993 MVP across the face. There had been speculation on whether or not it was a slap or a punch by Oak cleared this up in an interview with Shannon Sharpe. 

Charles Oakley on slapping Charles Barkley in 1990. 

While promoting his new book, the former Chicago Bull stopped over at Club Shay Shay and broke down what transpired between him and Charles Barkley during that lockout season. 

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According to him, he never punched Charles Barkley, but he did slap the ‘you know what’ out of him. In another interview, Oak would say the same thing but replaced ‘you know what’ with a more profane word.

.@CharlesOakley34 on slapping Charles Barkley:

“He put his hands in my face and I don’t play that…He talks too much.” pic.twitter.com/Ke8eyPv6F1

— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) March 16, 2022

While Chuck did say that him and Oak were on cordial terms, the latter claimed that there is still beef between the two. He would go on to say that he doesn’t invite Chuck out to play golf anymore with Michael Jordan and company due to their falling out with him.