Charles Barkley wasn’t exactly a defensive stopper, but he always held that the truly great ones were unguardable anyway. Regardless, that didn’t stop him from trying, sometimes against near-impossible odds.
In one memorable moment, “The Round Mound of Rebound” found himself switched onto Michael Jordan at the perimeter. As Barkley recalled, the Chicago Bulls icon was so amused by the matchup that he burst out laughing at the sight of the Chuckster trying to stay in front of him.
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“I can’t guard him. It’s really funny because we actually talked about this one time,” the 1993 NBA MVP said on The Dan Patrick Show. “We switched out and I get down in my defensive stance and he just started laughing. He did. He looked at me and he just started laughing, and said, ‘Are you serious right now?'”
“He actually passed the ball because he was laughing so hard,” added the two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Too little
Even though MJ and Chuck are roughly the same height, the latter was built like a linebacker. That means he didn’t have the lateral quickness of Jordan, who was 220 pounds or less during his playing days. Meanwhile, Barkley was at least 250, so he had no business trying to contain “His Airness” out there on the floor.
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Nonetheless, the opposite could also be true. About 30 pounds lighter, at the very least, the six-time NBA champion was outmatched down low, and no amount of competitive nature could bridge that particular gap.
“He’s too little. Listen, Michael couldn’t guard me in the post. He’s too little. I’ve said it to him a thousand times,” stated the 11-time All-Star. “I say, ‘Hey, little man. You at the wrong place at the wrong time.’ He gonna fly because I’m gonna hit his ass. I’m gonna hit him with elbows and ass he’s gonna fly.”
To be fair to Chuck, nobody really had any success guarding MJ. ‘His Airness’ may have lost plenty of games and playoff series early on, but when it came to putting the ball in the basket, no one else came close. In fact, Jordan won the NBA scoring title a record 10 times, and not one soul outscored him in 37 postseason series except Terry Cummings, and that was when Mike was a rookie.
Barkley’s admiration for Jordan
Despite their fractured relationship today, Barkley still speaks of the five-time MVP’s greatness with reverence, especially when recalling these stories. Though their bond has soured, Chuck has never backed down from declaring Jordan as the GOAT, a title he believes is rightfully earned through Jordan’s contributions on and off the court.
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Although “Chuck Wagon” admitted he was biased because he played against “The Black Cat,” he also gave plenty of compelling reasons supporting his stance, including the fact that Michael Jordan achieved more than LeBron James in fewer years.
Their differences aside, Charles still fondly remembers the times when he and Jordan would go head-to-head, each knowing the other was impossible to stop. Both players couldn’t stop each other, but at least they had some good laughs along the way.
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