“Thank God For Magic Johnson And Larry Bird”: Charles Barkley Owes The NBA’s Rise To Lakers and Celtics Greats

Before Michael Jordan launched the NBA’s popularity to a new stratosphere, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were largely responsible for bringing the league to public attention. Their rivalry, which followed them from college, is still considered one of the most important in the NBA’s history. Charles Barkley, who was part of the league during its meteoric rise to fame, thanked the two Hall of Famers for saving it.

Not only were the two fierce rivals in college, but their draft selections also placed them on historic NBA rival teams. The battles between Magic’s Lakers and Bird’s Celtics were the biggest reason the NBA was able to survive financially in the early 80s, and Barkley knows that.  He mentioned as much on ‘Nothing Left Unsaid’.

“First of all, thank god for Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. They’re the guys who made the NBA what it is today. We owe those guys a great deal of gratitude, a great deal of gratitude.”

Barkley is spot on, and even former Laker Byron Scott agrees. Bird vs. Magic occurred at a time when the NBA wasn’t making much money, and their rivalry was the perfect way for the league to attract new viewers. Scott said on his podcast, nearly two years ago,

“Those two guys -Magic Johnson and Larry Bird- saved the NBA. Really saved the NBA from really going under because, at that particular point, it was only maybe 4 teams that were making money out of maybe 22–24 teams in the league. And these two guys came along and they just kinda saved the NBA.”

The revenue they generated went back into the league, and in a way, the Celtics and Lakers legends are responsible for the huge salaries the NBA players make today. Even Chuck believes this, and he spoke to Shannon Sharpe about it.

Charles Barkley says Magic vs. Bird helped increase the average NBA salary

The Round Mound of Rebound explained to Sharpe how the average salary in the NBA was only $200k before the two rivals entered the draft pool. “The average salary now is $10 million,” he explained.

Back then, the NBA Finals games would be delayed in their broadcast because of the league’s low popularity. Regular season games were even worse off, with the public only able to watch one game per week, and that was on Sunday.

Barkley credited Bird and Magic, claiming their rivalry boosted the NBA’s ratings to such an extent that the league and teams could afford to increase the players’ salaries. He called the two as “needle movers” and claimed that their impact should be appreciated more by the current generation of players.