“Charles Barkley really elbowed Dennis Rodman after he somersaulted on the court”: When the Suns legend gave ‘The Worm’ a slight chicken wing and got T’ed up

Charles Barkley hit Dennis Rodman with a hefty elbow to the ribs after the latter hilariously did a somersault on the court. 

Perhaps two of the most controversial stars of the NBA to have come out of the 1990s were Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley. Barkley was in the tabloids nearly every other week for something he did or said during practice, with his exploits even taking place off the court, i.e. him chucking someone out of a window. 

Dennis Rodman on the other hand, was more of an ‘off the court’ kind of guy from the jump, with him delving into his ‘insanity’ during his latter years with the Detroit Pistons. Rodman has done everything from marrying himself to cross-dressing out in public; something that was not all too common quarter of a decade ago.

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So, with both of these two having such eccentric personalities, it was only a matter time that Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman butted heads on NBA hardwood. 

Charles Barkley thought he got away with a heavy-hitting elbow to Dennis Rodman. 

The 1996 Chicago Bulls are widely considered to be the greatest team to have ever been assembled. Led by the ‘96 MVP, Michael Jordan, this squad went 72-10 in the regular season and ended up winning it all in a couple months. Rodman of course, played a major role in Chi-Town igniting their second three-peat. 

In those mere 10 losses however, was a loss to the Phoenix Suns in Barkley’s final season with the Arizona based team. During this game, Charles Barkley had himself a revenge game against the Bulls after having lost to them a couple years prior in the ‘93 NBA Finals. 

He would go on to elbow a player [Dennis Rodman] who wasn’t even on the Bulls team that beat him in that Finals. This elbow came after ‘The Worm’ had taken a charge against him the previous play, resulting in Dennis overexaggerating with his celebration with a hilarious somersault. 

These ‘antics’ by Dennis Rodman seemed to have irked Charles Barkley as he elbowed the former right in front of a referee, leading to an immediate technical foul being hurled towards him. Chuck didn’t let this slow him down however, as he continued his stellar play, leading Phoenix to a win.

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