In 1993, Charles Barkley had a legitimate claim to call himself the best in the world. He won the MVP and played a major part in the Phoenix Suns’ run to the NBA Finals that year. Unfortunately for Chuck, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty stood in the way, and it ultimately ended in a 4-2 series defeat. Just a few months later, Barkley came to terms with the fact that he may not get another shot in the following campaign.
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1993 was his first season with the Suns after spending eight seasons with the 76ers, where he arguably shone more on an individual level. But at the Suns, he had a better-rounded team with players like Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle contributing heavily to their postseason run. They helped Barkley reach the levels he couldn’t at Philly.
The now 62-year-old averaged a double-double during the 1992–93 season, which should have ideally given him the confidence to do it all over again. But that belief faded when he realized something significant had shifted in the locker room.
“The next year I remember I’m sitting down with the owner and I says I’m not sure we are going to make it to the finals again,” he recalled during an interview on Spittin’ Chiclets. “He’s like, ‘Why would you say that. We got one of the best teams in the NBA.’ I says, ‘Yeah but these guys now they’re different.'”
Barkley explained that the same players who had been driven by the pursuit of success the previous season were now more focused on contract disputes and playing time, rather than doing what was best for the team.
So, he felt the sense of doom right from the get-go. “If you’re gonna win, you can’t worry about how much money other guys are making. You can’t worry about playing time. You can’t worry about who is starting. I remember telling the owner that because with success, everything changes.”
Today, in his career as an analyst and pundit, Barkley often faces criticism for his bold takes and predictions. But in this case, he was right on the money. As he had warned the Suns’ owner, the team failed to make it back to the Finals. Instead, they were eliminated by the eventual champions, the Houston Rockets, in the Western Conference Semifinals, losing in seven games.
And Barkley? He never got that close to a ring again.
After losing to Jordan, Barkley hailed His Airness’ supremacy
Barkley was the kind of player who never wanted to be considered second-best at anything. But losing to a GOAT in the NBA Finals changes a man. On the same episode of Spittin’ Chiclets, Chuck recalled what he told his daughter after the Bulls’ Game 2 victory in the series.
“I had like 42 or something like that,” he recalled. “Then Michael had like 52. I remember going home, and my daughter was crying. She said daddy, you told me y’all were gonna win. I said, I got to be honest with you, that guy is better at basketball than me.”
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It might have been the first time the now Hall of Famer ever admitted someone was a better player than him. “I played as well as I could in Game 2, and he played better,” Barkley said, capturing what he felt in that tender moment with his daughter.
Jordan isn’t considered the GOAT just because of his six championships. He’s not the GOAT because Stephen A. Smith or Skip Bayless shout it from the rooftops. He’s the best because iconic players like Barkley acknowledge how hard they had to work against him — and yet, Jordan always outperformed them.
That honesty and sincerity are among the purest things about Chuck. While 1993 will always stand as a testament to his greatness, never winning a ring is probably what he regrets the most.
