“Called Nike and Said, ‘Watch This’”: Charles Barkley Recalls How Shoe Giant’s Ad Involving Chris Webber Led to 1994 Playoff Sweep

Stories of players taking things personally and taking their revenge on the court are always exciting to hear. While most stories from that genre feature the likes of Michael Jordan and the late, great Kobe Bryant, Charles Barkley also had one such moment in his career.

On a recent episode of Inside the NBA, Chuck recalled the Nike commercial that prompted him to destroy Chris Webber and the Golden State Warriors during the 1994 playoffs.

Barkley said that he got a call from Nike, asking his permission to feature him in an ad with Webber. Unaware of the kind of footage they were going to use, the Chuckster gave them his permission and the corporation went forward with their plan. Barkley later got to know what that commercial was all about.

Nike had used a clip of him getting dunked on by Webber in their ad. This infuriated Sir Charles and he was looking for blood after that. He said, “I’m minding my own business one night and that damn commercial came on. I called Nike and said, ‘Y’all gon’ get Chris Webber killed out here.’”

“Watch this,” is what Chuck told Nike before game 3 of the first round of the playoffs against the Warriors. And he proved that his threat was not supposed to be taken lightly. Barkley dropped 56 points with 14 rebounds and took the Phoenix Suns to a 140-133 win against the Golden State Warriors.

https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1890204027469615165

The Suns swept the Warriors in that series, and Nike’s slick move had a role to play in it. Chris Mullin, who was also on the panel tonight on Inside the NBA, had a great game that night. Mullin had 30 points. A performance like that in the playoffs is often memorable, but his moment to shine was overshadowed by a pissed-off Charles Barkley.

Ernie Johnson told Mullin, “You had a 30-point playoffs game, but nobody talks about that because this guy was busy going for 56.”

Chuck’s team ended up losing the Conference Semifinals to the Rockets that year. However, Barkley’s revenge was registered in the history books.