“I’m not going to kill people or cut my wrists without an NBA title”: Charles Barkley firmly claimed he was satisfied with his career regardless of a championship

Charles Barkley once revealed that he was crying because a special was made on him being ringless along with Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone. 

Charles Barkley got the taste of what it was like to be a winner in the NBA in merely his rookie season. The 1985 Playoffs saw his Philadelphia 76ers make it to the Eastern Conference Finals before ultimately getting bested by Larry Bird and his Boston Celtics. This would serve as a good foundation for Chuck to begin his postseason career in the league. 

However, after the eventual retirement of both Julius Erving and Moses Malone, the ‘Round Mound of Rebound’ found himself where he was while in his rookie season; further back even. His Sixers would continually lose in the first round or miss the Playoffs. They made it past the first round merely once, that being in an ECSF loss in 1990 to Michael Jordan and his Bulls.

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After Chuck found himself on the Phoenix Suns, he would have a season similar to his rookie campaign in the sense that he found immediate success. He made the NBA Finals in his first year in PHX and was named regular season MVP, eventually falling in 6 games to Jordan and company. 

It would go downhill from here however as Charles Barkley never made an NBA Finals again in his career. 

Charles Barkley on never winning a ring. 

Charles Barkley continually gets ridiculed by Shaquille O’Neal for never being able to muster up a single, successful championship run in his career. Despite this, Chuck seems to have made peace with this reality and even said during his playing days that he’d be just fine if he never won a ring. 

“I was sitting at home, crying the other night because they were doing a special on me, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing; how our lives are so miserable and incomplete because we haven’t won a championship.” 

“I just want everybody out there to know that I’m going to be alright if we don’t win a championship. I’m not going to become a mass murderer, I’m not going to cut my wrists, and I’m not going to jump off a building in downtown Houston. I think me, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing will be fine.”

 

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This interview was during his days with the Rockets. After Barkley’s Suns got bounced from the Playoffs by his future team in ‘94 and ‘95, he decided to join them in 1996. After losing to the Jazz in the 1997 WCF in 6 games, Barkley wouldn’t ever get as close to winning it all in his career before retiring in 2000.

Also read: Charles Barkley gets paid $6 million a year to fight Shaquille O’Neal on NBAonTNT