Admitting Michael Jordan Was the Better Player, Charles Barkley Once Explained Why He Deserved His 1992–93 MVP

Michael Jordan’s insatiable desire to win everything he competes in possibly convinced him that he deserved the 1993 MVP award. But it was Charles Barkley’s year, and while there have been many MVPs whose victories could be debated, Chuck’s win that year is beyond reproach.

Five years back, while responding to Jordan’s comment in The Last Dance about their MVP race, Barkley explained to Mike Greenberg why he rightfully deserved the award. Jordan, who by that point had already won three MVPs, said: “I was a little bit upset that I didn’t get the MVP that year and they gave it to Charles Barkley. But with that said, okay fine. You can have that. I’m gonna get this [the 1993 championship].”

Barkley stressed that the MVP award is always given to the player who had the best regular season. And that year, it was him. Chuck also had the team’s success to match his dominant individual campaign. The Phoenix Suns finished 62-20. They won the Western Conference and boasted the best record in the league.

In a season where the Bulls failed to snag the top seed in the East, it was a well-deserved nomination for the Hall of Fame forward. “Obviously, Michael was a better player than me. But that year, during the regular season, I played better than he did,” Chuck had said in the 2020 interview.

Barkley and Jordan shared a close friendship off the court. Chuck has even insisted MJ is the GOAT on multiple occasions. He repeated that to Greenberg too. But the pain of the loss to Jordan in the 1993 Finals still haunts Barkley, simply because he felt he could have played better.

“Even though we lost 4-2 every other game we played well [except Game 1]. I have always had this regret that I did not have my team ready to play well in Game 1 [Bulls won 100-92]. And I take full responsibility for that,” he added.

With the three-peat at stake, Jordan was relentless in the 1993 postseason. And MJ had a sweet revenge against Barkley for beating him hands down in the MVP race.

Barkley dominated MVP voting in 1992-93

In retrospect, we can’t even call the MVP race a close one. Barkley dominated it, leaving no doubt that he was the best player in the league that year. Chuck ended with 59 of 100 possible first-place votes. Jordan finished with just 13, trailing both the Suns star and Hakeem Olajuwon’s 22 first-place votes.

Jordan did put together another MVP-worthy season, leading the NBA in points and steals per game. But Barkley’s marvelous season had many more aspects that tipped the scales in his favor.

Firstly, the Bulls won 10 fewer games than their 67-win campaign the year prior, opening up the race for stars on more winning teams. Jordan’s efficiency also took a dip compared to the past few seasons, even though he was still putting up over 32 points per game.

Barkley’s season simply stood out because he was doing it all for the Suns. Phoenix had a solid cast around their star, but Chuck’s 25.6/12.2/5.1 stat line alongside his versatile defense made it hard to look past his all-around greatness.

There’s an argument that can be made that this wasn’t even Barkley’s best individual campaign. None of his numbers from the 1992-93 season are career highs. But the Suns’ winning ways proved to be enough to catapult the 11-time All-Star into MVP contention.