“Tim Grover Leave, He on the Pizza”: Charles Barkley’s Untold Comeback Story to Team Up with Michael Jordan Gets a Tough Critique from Kenny Smith

Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan shared a great bond during their playing days in the NBA. Though their relationship is no longer the same, Chuck once wished that he had one last chance to team up with Jordan during the latter’s stint with the Washington Wizards. During the recent TNT broadcast, Kenny Smith revealed Barkley’s desire to make a basketball comeback by teaming up with Jordan and the Wizards in 2001.

During the Inside the NBA eoisode, Barkley tried narrating his comeback story as he was hilariously interrupted by Kenny Smith, who found it amusing that Chuck adopted a healthy fitness routine to return to basketball after his retirement.

Smith pointed out how Chuck often ignored MJ’s former trainer Tim Grover’s dietary suggestions and chose pizza over healthy vegetables as soon as Grover left the scene. “He used to eat right that, vegetables all that stuff. As soon as Tim Grover leave, he on the pizza! I was like, he’s not coming back to play with the Wizards,” the former Rockets star said.

Kenny Smith blurted out Chuck’s dietary secrets without heeding Chuck’s calls to stop and change the topic. Yet again, this was another instance of the Inside team making the show more hilarious by making Charles Barkley the butt of the joke.

Charles Barkley has always praised Michael Jordan’s greatness since his playing days in the NBA

Being one of Michael Jordan’s closest friends during his playing days, Charles Barkley has always praised his fellow league MVP whenever he had the opportunity. When Jordan first announced his retirement in 1993, Sir Charles, in an interview with Charlie Rose, proclaimed how Jordan himself had never anticipated his greatness by the time he had won his first three championships.

Both MJ and Barkley were from the same draft class of 1984. The other players drafted that year, such as Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton, and Alvin Robertson, all became league legends in their own right with their careers. However, Chuck claimed that no one could have reached the heights Michael Jordan did with his career due to his incredible prowess.

“So we all were good players, but nobody– first of all, nobody ever expected Michael Jordan to be Michael Jordan. If anybody tells you that, it’s a myth.”

Chuck and MJ were the best of friends despite the competitive nature of the league back in the day. However, their friendship fell apart in 2010, when Jordan went on to own the NBA team Charlotte Hornets while Chuck continued his new stint in basketball as an analyst.