The 1992 Dream Team might have been the greatest Olympic basketball team of all time. But in the very next edition of the Summer Olympics, the United States had another All-Star squad as well, touted as ” The Dream Team 2″. The team comprised the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Gary Payton, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and Mitch Richmond, among others. With both Shaq and Barkley on board, it’s no surprise that the 1996 Olympic team had a lot of fun, which, however, could’ve ended poorly for the Chuckster.
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Mitch Richmond was recently on the All The Smoke Podcast, where the 1996 Olympic gold medalist was asked about his memories of the Atlanta Olympics. Talking about his experience playing on the 1996 USA basketball team, Richmond revealed, “We had so much fun. We had a lot of fun. If they had cameras back then, I mean ‘all bad’ Man…Charles Barkley would have been in jail.”
During the show, Richmond would also reveal a hilarious story about Barkley from the 1996 Olympics. The 58-year-old recalled that the USA team had once gone out for drinks when Barkley ended up fighting a drunk fan for ‘getting up in his face’. The following day, Barkley and the entire USA team would get an earful from their coach Lenny Wilkens for their misadventure. That being said, Sir Charles didn’t feel remorseful about his actions, as the 76ers legend would warn the police that he would repeat his offense if provoked again.
Back in the 90s, Barkley was surely ‘the problem child’ of the NBA, as the Suns legend would often get into fights and altercations both on and off the floor. Barkley had no interest in being a role model. He would wear his heart on his sleeve and get into altercations with fans and players alike for the most trivial of reasons.
Barkley has beaten up fans before
The incident in the 1996 Olympics wouldn’t be the first of Barkley’s drunken fist-fights with fans. During a 2019 episode of Inside The NBA, Barkley would end up spilling the beans on his infamous 1991 arrest. Talking about the incident further, Barkley would reveal,
“That was the night I got arrested and did my ‘Karate Kid’ impersonation…I took all my clothes off…it was snowing too. So, I thought they were gonna think I was crazy and leave me alone …but one fool’s standing right there. And I hit his ass as hard as I could. I broke his nose.”
Barkley wouldn’t be apologetic about his actions, as the 76ers legend would quickly be traded to the Suns. Barkley wouldn’t change a whole lot after the incident, as Sir Charles would continue to engage in his regular shenanigans. Even decades later, Barkley still retains a lot of his previous antics. However, he is a much more mature person now.
