Charles Barkley for Governor? When Suns Legend Considered Running in His Home-State Alabama

Charles Barkley had a remarkable NBA career as one of the greatest players to ever do it, despite not winning a championship ring during his playing days. Aside from basketball, golf, and politics always piqued Chuck’s interest. In fact, during his playing days, the Phoenix Suns legend had some bigger plans of running for the post of Governor for his home state of Alabama.

A CBS report claimed that Barkley had contemplated running for the post of Governor from as early as his playing days with the Phoenix Suns in the 1990s. In 1995, Barkley openly discussed contesting the 1998 Alabama state elections as a Republican. However, that plan never seemed to materialize.

After retiring in 2000, Barkley joined TNT as an NBA analyst and has remained with the network since. In 2006, the 1993 NBA MVP started re-contemplating contesting for the Alabama governor post for the then-upcoming 2010 state elections. However, this time, Barkley switched parties and decided to contest as a Democrat, believing the Republicans had “lost their minds.” 

Happy birthday, Charles Barkley. Still interested in running for governor of Alabama? https://t.co/b4mm0PvbDH pic.twitter.com/UB2M1kqkqG

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 20, 2018

It seemed like Charles Barkley had yet to decide on contesting the elections. After announcing for the 2010 elections, Barkley backed out for the second time, this time announcing for the 2014 state elections 2008. It clearly seemed like politics wasn’t the right cup of tea for the NBA legend, as once again, he backed out for the last time from his 2014 contesting claims.

Charles Barkley’s desire to be a governor has been a recurring topic for quite some time now. Speaking to ESPN’s Zach Lowe on his podcast, Barkley said, “I’m not going to do the governor thing.” In what seemed like an explosive rant, Barkley further expressed, “I think both parties are crap. They do nothing for the actual people. The Democrats and Republicans are both full of crap.” 

If Barkley were to follow through on his intentions to run for governor, he would likely have a massive fanbase to tap into. Perhaps the former star simply keeps getting cold feet since if he did win, he would be responsible for the entire state of Alabama. That’s a massive responsibility that isn’t cut out for everybody.

Skip Bayless dismissed Charles Barkley’s candidacy for governor’s position

When Charles Barkley re-announced his intentions to stand as a candidate for Alabama’s governor elections, he was met with skepticism from several directions, including that from political science experts and academics. Jim Seroka, a political science professor from Chuck’s alma mater, Auburn University, claimed that Barkley did not have “any of the bases necessary to run a statewide campaign.” 

However, the most scathing criticism came from former ESPN analyst Skip Bayless. In a fiery column titled “Barkley not fit to be governor,” Bayless took shots at Chuck’s gambling addiction and other controversies, trying to highlight the former NBA legend’s character as a candidate. Bayless claimed that Barkley would become the most laughable governor of Alabama since Mel Brooks played Gov. William J. LePetomaine in ‘Blazing Saddles.’

WATCH: Charles Barkley laughs out loud at @NikkiHaley saying “we’ve never been a racist country” pic.twitter.com/WtYoFDs4Tf

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 19, 2024

Furthermore, Bayless nitpicked the most trivial aspects of Barkley’s life to dismiss his governor’s candidacy. The former ESPN analyst scathingly remarked on Barkley backing down twice from the candidacy, thus claiming the Phoenix Suns legend to be incompetent for politics. Perhaps, one of the reasons behind the bitter relations between Bayless and Barkley must have been this article, which must have definitely triggered tensions between the two analysts.