“I’m Not The Best, Michael Jordan Is”: Charles Barkley Revealed He Couldn’t Believe What He Saw From The UNC Alum In 1984

Michael Jordan stepped foot on NBA hardwood and made everybody knew he wasn’t like the rest of the players in the league. He ran away with Rookie of the Year honors in a draft class that featured the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. He would even make the All-Star Game his rookie season.

MJ’s greatness from the get-go, while it was astonishing to see, it wasn’t surprising. Despite the fact that he did not make his varsity basketball team at Laney early on his high school career, he worked his way up from the ground up.

By the time Jordan had gotten recruited by the University of North Carolina, word had gotten out about just how good of a player he was. Charles Barkley got to see first-hand just how incredible of a player MJ was in college.

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Charles Barkley took time to come around on Michael Jordan

Charles Barkley has admitted on several occasions that conceded to the fact that Michael Jordan was better than him. He revealed that when he was in the NBA, the moment he knew that Jordan was better was when the Chicago Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals.

Chuck Daly even told Chuck, who led Team USA in scoring in the 1992 Olympics, that Jordan was better but the former wasn’t having it. however, when talking about their greatness at the college level, Barkley seemed to accept that the UNC junior was in fact, better.

Charles Barkley let it be known that Michael Jordan was the best from the get-go

During a recent interview, Chuck explained just how in awe of Michael he was when he saw him at the Olympic tryouts in 1984. At the time, professional NBA players weren’t allowed to participate in the Olympics. So amateur stars like Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, and David Robinson were brought into the fray.

Sir Charles goes on to narrate how he had to tell his own coach about how incredible Michael was, claiming he’d ‘never seen anything like it in his life’. Jordan was number one before even stepping foot on NBA hardwood and it seemed as though everybody knew that. Except Portland.

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