It’s almost poetic that Charles Barkley’s incredible 16 year run in the NBA came to a screeching halt in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers. The final chapter of his career was marred by injuries, most notably the torn quad on 8th December 1999. Everyone wrote him off after that. No one believed that Barkley would be able to comeback. However, the Chuckster had something else in mind.
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He was adamant about not leaving the NBA with an injury being his last image. So, Sir Charles came back after a four-month hiatus, just so he could get one rebound and one bucket on the board. Chuck recalled that experience during a recent episode of Inside the NBA.
“I went up and down the court like 10 times,” Chuck said about his struggles in the final outing. However, Kenny Smith immediately checked him for lying about what happened on the floor. Smith revealed that both the teams respected his wish to leave as an athlete and allowed him enough time and space to get a rebound.
Barkley said, “I didn’t realize how high that rim was that night. I couldn’t get that one rebound…I finally got it. I thought I was gonna die out there, I’m not gonna lie.” After Chuck’s confession about his struggles against the Vancouver Grizzlies in the last game of his career, the producers of the show dug up footage from the game.
You know Shaq had to keep egging Chuck on after his rebounding story 🤣 pic.twitter.com/TThSUxFhQh
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 13, 2025
In the footage, Chuck can be seen grabbing a rebound and scoring a putback. The Round Mound of Rebound said that even though he had a smile on his face, that was a very sad moment for him. He said, “It was sad anyway. It was my last game.” Immediately after scoring the basket, Chuck walked off into retirement.
The producers found footage of Chuckster's final game 😆🎥 https://t.co/fTrFz1o8DT pic.twitter.com/S8lHb5xtGz
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 13, 2025
When asked about the emotions he felt when he went into the locker room, he revealed it wasn’t very different. “I had already announced I was going to retire before the season, but then I blew out my quad and I rehabbed because I didn’t want my last thing to be me being carried out the court.” This heartfelt statement of the former athlete was followed by trolling from Shaquille O’Neal for being carried out.
Storybook endings in the realm of sports are almost never possible. Shaq, for all the fun he poked at Chuck, suffered what would be a career-ending Achilles injury in the 2010-11 season, leading to him retiring a year earlier.
Barkley never got that storybook ending he oh-so desired and quite frankly deserved. Everything from surviving putrid 76ers rosters for the better half of a decade to being two games away from beating Michael Jordan in the Finals during his MVP season, Chuck truly did give it his all. A shame that his attempt at forming a super-team in Houston was in vain as they wouldn’t be able to string together consistent games in the Playoffs.
