Charles Barkley is the funniest entertainer in all sports media, but the Philadelphia legend sometimes cries his cry in between his jokes.
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The NBA was probably at its best in the 80s when it was having its greatest rivalry of all time between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. The greatest “white man” to ever play the game of basketball versus the greatest point guard of the game.
That whole decade was stuffed with some epic NBA Finals action between the two where the Celtics’ legend won one and the showman of the “Showtime” Lakers won two championships going head-to-head against each other.
In total from 1980 to ’88, they won clean and swept the house with Magic winning five chips and Bird winning three in total. By 1988-89, there were some other stars like Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and many others who wanted to take over the league from the OGs.
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Charles Barkley says Magic Johnson robbed him of an MVP award
While Zeke, with his Bad Boy Pistons, made a double championship run in ’89 and 90, Jordan had started having otherworldly performances by then, and so had Olajuwon, a 6ft 5” Barkley was another sensation who was putting up a dominating big man’s number each year.
In fact, from 1986 to 1991, alongside his fellow draftees, Chuck had been putting MVP-like numbers but kept falling short of either Magic or Mike all of those years.
The TNT analyst talked about himself getting robbed by Johnson in the ’86-87 season, in his appearance on the Dan Patrick show a few months back.
That was the year when Barkley averaged 23p/14.6r/4.9a/1.8s/1.5b per game and announced himself as on of the best players in the league helping the 76ers to finish as the 5th best team in the East with a 45-37 record.
Meanwhile, Magic was in some otherworldly form with 23.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 12.2 assists, and 1.7 steals helping the Lakers to a 65-17 season with the #1 spot in the West.
We don’t know if Chuck is as serious about this claim as he sounds, but Johnson clearly deserved an MVP over everyone that year. He eventually led his team to the championship as well, winning the fourth of his five titles in LA.
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After a tragic retirement from the NBA in 1991 following his HIV diagnosis, Magic went on to become a successful businessman worth around $620 million.
While Barkley played long enough at least to win an MVP in 1994, but won no chips in his 16-year career and is now an NBA analyst worth around $50 million.
