Charles Barkley deserved all the accolades he earned during his 16-year Hall of Fame career but knows why he is not among GOATs.
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Charles Barkley is unarguably one of the greatest players in the game of basketball. A First Ballot Hall of Famer, and top select for both NBA’s Top-50 and Top-75 teams of all time.
Coming into the league in the same year (1984) Michael Jordan did, he went to the Philadelphia 76ers as a 5th pick. They also had Hakeem Olajuwon and John Stockton in the very same draft as well who also joined him and MJ in the all-time greats list.
The man had a lot of success in the NBA even if he could not win a championship to add to his great resume. ‘Sir Charles’ did everything, gave his everything to lift Larry O’Brien once, but he mostly fell short.
He fell short not just because of his mistakes but because he played in arguably the best era for basketball. His first few years went by dealing with the likes of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, while the next few went against the likes of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton.
Charles Barkley knows his place quite well
Nothing can bring Chuck’s case down for the honors and lifetime achievement awards he’s got over the years. “The Round Mound of Rebounds” was a 6’5 guy who played as a forward throughout his career despite being at the height of a guard.
He still made it to the top-20 in rebounds all-time while being in Top-30 for points throughout his career. But the man is self-aware that he isn’t on the same plane as the guys who are brought up in GOAT conversation. As part of a prologue for her new podcast ‘Icons Club’, Jackie MacMullan shared a snippet of Charles talking about his legacy as a player.
“Listen, I didn’t win a championship. So Magic, Larry, Michael, Kobe, LeBron, Kareem. Guys like that, we in the same building, but we’re not on the same floor.”
