During his 16 years in the NBA, there weren’t many in the league who were more confident than Charles Barkley. Especially in the prime of his career, the 6’6 forward believed that there was no player in the world who was better than him. For a long time, he believed that even Michael Jordan was second-best to him. So when he was once confronted by a fringe rotation player for the 76ers, who challenged him for getting the ball all the time, ‘the Chuckster’ did not take it lightly. Instead, Barkley told the player why he couldn’t hold a candle to him.
Advertisement
While Barkley initially believed that he was the best player in the world, he eventually changed his stance. On the one occasion that he admitted that he fell second to somebody else, he unsurprisingly pointed the finger at Jordan as the man with the crown. At the time, the two players were very close friends, something that likely made it a bit easier to admit this.
Charles Barkley got real with Armen Gilliam about the difference in their standings in the NBA
In the 1992-93 season, Charles Barkley joined the Phoenix Suns, playing the best basketball of his career. There weren’t many in the NBA on his level. In 1993, Barkley bagged the NBA MVP, raking in $2,420,000 in annual salaries.
However, during his time in Philly, the then-76ers rotation player, Armen Gilliam walked up to Barkley and told him that the latter was a better player than him only because he got the ball more. As one might expect, Barkley was in no mood to turn the other cheek to the comment. Instead, as per a 1993 New York Times quote from Barkley from the book ‘Sir Charles: Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley’, here is how things went.
“In Philly, Armen Gilliam used to say the only reason I was better than him was because I got the ball more. I said, ’I get the ball more because you ain’t worth a dime.’ In Phoenix, they ain’t jealous of me. And the same in New York. Patrick [Ewing] is the man, and the others reap the benefits. They’re not lrn” knuckleheads. That’s how New York got good; they got rid of the knuckleheads.”
To Gilliam’s credit, it does take a lot of confidence to say what he said to one of the best players in the NBA at the time. However, there is clearly some naivety in there as well. After all, the man was averaging about 12 points per game at the time. Not too bad on its own, but dwarfed completely by Barkley’s MVP caliber numbers.
Kevin Garnett once applauded Barkley’s ability to talk smack
Kevin Garnett is known as one of the meanest trash-talkers of all time. However, despite his abrasive means and scare tactics, even he felt the need to give it up for Barkley’s talents in the craft. Here is what he said on the matter.
“Charles Barkley was another level trash talker because he would end up fighting you or try to fight you. But he instilled fear in everybody on the court”
Garnett was forced to bear witness to Barkley’s smack talk on countless different occasions during his early days. Despite his rough mentality, it’s unlikely that any of those occasions are remembered fondly by the Celtics legend.
