Before Julius Erving retired in 1987, he was honored by NBA teams on his retirement tour. In the last stretch of his career, Dr. J was with the Philadelphia 76ers. During former 76ers star Charles Barkley’s appearance on The Mark Jackson Show, the host of the show and former NBA star Mark Jackson revealed that Barkley was busy in his own world while everyone else was honoring the NBA legend at the Garden.
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Jackson thought that he may be a little foggy on the details, so clarifying the incident with the man himself was the best idea.
“I remember coming to the game, they were celebrating Dr. J at the Madison Square Garden…Was you laying on the bench?” Jackson asked. Chuck claimed that he doesn’t remember exactly but that could have been a possibility. The 61-year-old then defended himself by stating that he was bored of the retirement run after witnessing a handful of tribute ceremonies for Dr. J.
All he wanted to do at that point was play basketball. He added, “Let me tell you something after you went through about 20 of those things, you had enough.”
Jackson couldn’t control his laughter after Barkley stated his reasons for “laying on the bench.” He said, “This dude was laying on the bench.” Sir Charles was adamant, however.
He said, “After you go through about 20 of those retirement ceremonies, like, damn, can we get the game started? And they all were trying to come up with a different type of gift. I could have been tired or just bored over on the sideline. That could be 100% true.”
Even though Sir Charles has a lot of love and respect for Dr. J, a man could only withstand a handful of the same event.
Charles Barkley learned an important life lesson from Julius Erving
Barkley was drafted by the 76ers in 1984 and he got to play alongside the NBA legend for three years. During that time, he learned a lot of things from Dr. J, but the most important lesson for Barkley was one on financial management. During an appearance on ALL THE SMOKE, Barkley recalled being schooled by Dr. J for owning six cars.
“He says, ‘Why you have six cars?’ And I couldn’t give him a good answer. He said, ‘Charles, everybody knows who the f**k you are…You ain’t got to impress these people. Everybody knows you’re Charles Barkley…Son, take those cars back. You need one car. If you want two, that’s fine, but them other ones, take them back,’” Barkley recalled.
Sir Charles revealed that Dr. J also taught him how to dress and played a crucial role in his development as a young athlete.
