Charles Barkley was stunned after he experienced how heavy Michael Jordan’s signature sneaker – “Air Jordan” – actually was.
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For most of his distinguished career, Charles Barkley wore the Nike Air Force and the Alpha Air Force before he was rewarded with his own signature shoes. However, back in the 1992-1993 season, The Round Mound of Rebound put on a pair of Air Jordans as a tribute to Michael Jordan, who was retiring after that season.
Years later, Sir Charles spoke about his experience wearing MJ’s signature shoes. Describing the Air Jordans as the “heaviest shoes” he ever saw in his life, Barkley further described how crazy Michael was in order to jump high while wearing the “heavy-a**” sneakers. Back in 2020, Chuck made an appearance on a “B/R Kicks” video, where he said:
“I played in Michael’s shoes one night and then the heaviest damn things in the world. He can really fly if he can jump in those heavy-ass shoes.
My shoes are really light, and I tried to do a tribute to Michael when he retired the first time, and I played in them heavy-a** Air Jordan’s. Hey, and I called that mofo after the game. I says ‘You are, you are the GOAT. These the heaviest damn shoes I’ve ever seen in my life’.”
Also Read: LeBron James’ Golf Swing Makes Charles Barkley Look Like Tiger Woods
“Clearly I’m a big dude, but I don’t want my shoes to be heavy”: Charles Barkley
Making it pretty evident, the “Chuckster” isn’t a huge fan of bulky shoes. However, standing at 6-foot-6, and weighing a staggering 250 pounds for the majority of his career, Charles needed pretty sturdy shoes.
In the same video, the Hall-Of-Famer described his signature shoes – the Air Max 2 CB – to the host Meech. The 1-time MVP revealed that he sat down with Nike’s Vice President of Design and Special Projects – Tinker Hatfield – and created a shoe comfortable enough for him to wear.
“These things (his own sneakers) are so light. I say – so I was looking for light, but I wanted them to be really sturdy. But when I sit down with Tinker and those guys, I say ‘Clearly I’m a big dude. I need some strength around the soles. But I don’t want my shoes to be heavy’.”
Barkley was happy with the way his shoes performed in the market
Back in the 1990s, almost every kid in the world wanted to be Like Mike. Hence, sales for MJ’s “Air Jordans” skyrocketed.
However, Charles’ sneakers were second in terms of popularity among any other NBA star. This fact itself gave immense pride to the former Philly legend. While also talking about the reason why Shaq’s shoes didn’t sell as much, the 12-time All-Star said:
“When I found out my shoe was going well – you know, I think at the time my shoe was second to Michael – and that was a big deal to me. Listen, I ain’t gonna bust my boy Shaq. I love Shaq, but Shaq was selling sneakers. Nobody was buying them big-ass shoes.
But listen, it was great. When I started getting the royalty checks and you start counting up like ‘Oh, man’. Then Nike says ‘ You know, other than Michael, Charles, your shoes are no. 2’. I mean, hey, man, I took great pride in that.”
Clearly, no other athlete could compete with Michael Jordan’s popularity back in the 1990s. To date, the Bulls legend remains the the most influential sporting icon of all time.
