Charles Barkley never won an NBA championship. Here's what left him empty-handed.

(dramatic music) - Charles Barkley was one of the greatest players in the history of professional basketball. He had the height of a guard and, t

here

fore, agile with the ball in his hands. But he was also wide and exceptionally powerful, capable of flying in transition or exploding on the floor just below the basket. Those qualities helped make him the shortest player to lead the league in rebounding. Supreme skill from him, coupled with prolific, versatile and extremely efficient goal-scoring at his best. Barkley became an All-Star in 1987 and remained that way for a decade, earning All-NBA First Team honors in five of those years.

Shortly after his first Olympic gold medal, Barkley won the NBA MVP in 1993, besting legendary competition. Barkley's individual greatness has been honored with two retired jerseys and a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Barkley has every individual accomplishment, every accolade you could ever dream of. But despite all that, he's missing out on the team's ultimate achievement: an NBA

championship

. Why, despite his greatness, did his teams

never

win? How exactly did Charles Barkley end up without a title? (light music) Barkley entered the NBA on a lucky note. He was one of several future Hall of Famers selected in the historic 1984 draft.

But unlike first pick Hakeem Olajuwon and third pick Michael Jordan, who were chosen by the kind of losing teams you'd normally find among the best selections, Barkley was chosen by a contending team. The Philadelphia 76ers didn't lose their way to the fifth pick in the '84 draft. They received him as compensation for a trade with the miserable and dumb Clippers in 1978. The team Barkley joined was loaded with a Hall of Fame tandem formed by Julius Erving and Moses Malone, supported by stars such as Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Bobby Jones. The Sixers were coming off a relatively bad year that ended with a playoff upset, but the previous season they had completely incinerated their playoff competition to win the 1983 title.

So the reigning SEC Player of the Year found himself among the Champions. Charles was the rare top-five pick who could compete for a

championship

from his rookie season. And the kid impressed coach Billy Cunningham enough to earn a starting job on a team that won 58 games and reached the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals. Only one problem, the Celtics. Larry Bird and the defending champions were just as stacked and raced to a 3-0 series lead before the Sixers realized they should start Barkley like they did in the regular season. The rookie rejoined the starting lineup and helped Philadelphia win Game 4, gobbling up 20 rebounds.

But thanks to Bird's last-second steal in Game 5, the series and the season went up in smoke. No one could have known it at the time, but 1985 would be the last, best chance for that version of the Sixers to win another title. They would

never

have a chance against Bird's Celtics again. In 1986, the Bucks eliminated Philadelphia from the playoffs when Erving missed Game 7 before the buzzer sounded. Even if that shot had gone in, the Sixers surely would have lost to the Celtics again. Malone was out the entire postseason with an eye injury. And that was the beginning of the end in Philadelphia.

Barkley was improving rapidly. He became an All-Star for the first time in 1987, but the once-champion Sixers were crumbling around him. On draft night in 1986, Philadelphia made two dismal trades. Jones retired in '86, Erving in '87, Toney in '88. So Barkley had a shot at winning an NBA title immediately upon entering the league, but the Sixers weren't the only power in the East and then If they fell short, they dissolved. (somber music) Barkley had become a superstar, a centerpiece, but so had his best classmate, Michael Jordan, and Jordan's team was headed in a different direction. Even as Barkley began to enter the MVP conversation, the Sixers had some down years to end the '80s.

Charles got his first taste of losing and missing the playoffs. Barkley's good friend Michael experienced an opposite and more typical trend with the Bulls. Chicago's rise paralleled that of its young star, later losing playoff success and then contention. The Sixers knew they had to quickly reorganize around the ascendant Barkley. Philadelphia amassed a young, rhyming backcourt, a veteran frontcourt and, ultimately, one of the tallest human beings on the planet. They were back in business. But the rebuilding Bulls had that advantage and in consecutive second-round playoff matchups, MJ's team beat up Barkley's team. Those Bulls were entering their prime and after defeating the Sixers in 1991, they would win the first of many championships for MJ.

Meanwhile, Charles saw his championship aspirations fade. In 1991, the Sixers irritated their 28-year-old star by failing to re-sign Rick Mahorn, who, with Barkley, had formed the gritty, dirty elite rebounding tandem nicknamed Thump and Bump. The '91-'92 Sixers further irritated their star with poor play and he repeatedly attacked. Those t-shirts can't have helped. Barkley couldn't afford to be patient, he couldn't waste his prime by losing, so he looked for a trade and got it. And

here

, again, there was very good luck. Barkley almost went to the mid-major Lakers in the midseason deal for their best player, James Worthy.

Instead, Charles was traded at the end of the season to the Suns, a very good team that gave up relatively little to get him, probably because Barkley had developed a reputation for bad-mouthing his teammates, fighting, and, on one occasion, spit on the fans. This is how a superstar in his prime ends up being traded for Jeff Hornacek. Still, Suns owner and general manager Jerry Colangelo deemed Charles worth it, and that complete dispossession by the Sixers was worth it. Barkley was brilliant enough to win the 1993 league MVP over his former 1984 classmates and he had the right people around him.

Rookie head coach Paul Westphal led the way, Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle formed a strong defense, complemented by a healthy combination of young talent and veteran presence. Barkley and Tom Chambers restructured their contracts, so Phoenix could add bench depth with Danny Ainge. This team meant business and Phoenix won 62 games, best in the NBA. That's despite Johnson, the star point guard, missing dozens of games due to injuries related to an undiagnosed hernia he reportedly suffered while trying to pick up fellow rookie Oliver Miller. Hernias would affect Johnson for the rest of his career and, as far as I know, Oliver Miller's story is completely true.

In the playoffs, the top-seeded Suns recovered from a first-round scare against the underdog Lakers. Miller played a big role in the game five victory. They then eliminated David Robinson and the Spurs in the next round, thanks to Barkley's 28-point, 21-rebound performance in Game 6, which he punctuated with a game-winning shot. Barkley was even more incredible in the Western Conference Finals against the Sonics. He had 44 points and 24 rebounds, and literally floored Seattle star Shawn Kemp in a decisive Game 7 win. - Kemp falls and Barkley goes to score more. - Phoenix earned their first trip to the NBA Finals where they would face off...

Oh, come on. Yes, unfortunately, even if you played in the west, you eventually had to go through Jordan to win a ring. Then, while Charles continued dining with his friend Michael between games, the two resumed their on-court war for the third postseason in four years. The war seemed to be over after the first battles. The Suns had home field advantage, but immediately blew it in the first two games. Jordan and Scottie Pippen picked apart the Phoenix defense with ease. Kevin Johnson was outplayed by Chicago's BJ Armstrong to the point that Barkley admonished the Phoenix fans for booing his base.

The second game was pretty close at least, thanks in large part to Barkley's best performance in the series. Ainge cut Chicago's lead to three with a bucket from downtown and a drive in the final minute, but he perhaps rushed his last attempt to tie the game and Pippen smashed it out of the sky with a gangly, outstretched arm. So the Suns became the first NBA Finals team to lose their first two games at home and it looked like the series would end in Chicago. Barkley suffered a right elbow injury in the second game that had to be drained before the third game and hampered his production some

what

.

In an absolutely marathon, triple-overtime game, Charles missed a chance to break a tie before the final buzzer, then missed another attempt to win the game in overtime. But finally the co-stars stepped forward. Johnson finally penetrated the defense and scored 25 points, and Majerle was the hero. He hit the shot that closed the second overtime and in the third overtime, he hit his sixth 3-pointer of the night from downtown on a pass from Barkley. Charles iced the game with a sneaky steal and layup, and suddenly the Suns regained some of the ground they had lost in Phoenix. All the talk after the game was about defense, how Johnson and Majerle had stepped up to not only limit Pippen, but also slow Jordan down, which is funny because Michael scoring 44 points counts as a slowdown for him. .

And it's funny too because everyone knew Jordan would see those headlines and get angry in the next game, which he did. 55 points on only 37 shots, just disgusting. Even with all that, Johnson and Barkley kept Phoenix alive in game four. KJ found Barkley for a dunk that cut Chicago's lead to two with just over a minute

left

. But after Barkley stole the ball to give Phoenix a chance to tie the game, Pippen stripped Majerle and then Johnson simply fumbled the incoming pass. That gave Jordan the opportunity to ice the game, which was a bad idea. I don't recommend doing that.

A triple-double by Barkley was in vain and the Suns were on the brink of elimination, trailing 3-1 with one more road game

left

. The city of Chicago prepared for riots if they won their third straight home title, but game five kept the streets quiet. Barkley was just solid, but he did a good job passing doubles, like this setup for Johnson and one that ended the game for good. Besides another brilliant outing from Jordan, the biggest positive for the Bulls was veteran sharpshooter John Paxson. He had been quiet early in the series, but he came back to life with four three-pointers.

This was an unfortunate omen for Phoenix. But with a Game 5 win, the Suns had miraculously regained home field advantage. The always talkative Barkley became especially bold. He told reporters that the Suns were destined to win the series, which was

what

God wanted, and that he openly considered retiring when they did. He enjoyed the idea of ​​rising to the top like the NFL's Jim Brown did, and doing so after winning Olympic gold, NBA MVP and a championship in the span of a year would be a great way to leave the game. . The series returned to Phoenix for the final two games.

It wouldn't take that long. While Jordan and Pippen were simply good in Game 6, the big story was Chicago's outside shooting. They broke Phoenix's recently set team record for 3-pointers in a Finals game by making 10 of them. Four of those deep buckets came from BJ Armstrong, but the most devastating came from the hands of Paxson. With the Suns up two points down the stretch, Barkley slightly outplayed Pippen, who required help, and left Paxson open to take the Chicago lead with just seconds left. On its next and final possession, Phoenix couldn't find Barkley posting up and Johnson couldn't make a clean shot at the buzzer.

Time expired and Michael Jordan's Bulls secured their third consecutive championship. Two of those rings came at Barkley's expense. His Sixers of the '90s were never as talented as they were in the early '80s, and his Suns came up short in some big moments. But more than anything, Charles Barkley reached 30 without a title because Michael Jordan and the Bulls were indomitable, inevitable. Stung by that narrow loss in the Finals and still savoring stardom, Barkley didn't see himself in the right place to retire. Jordan, however, did. Exhausted, mired in controversy over his gambling addiction and mourning the tragic death of his father, MJ shocked the NBA by going off to play baseball.

The Bulls dynasty came to a screeching halt. A new window opened for Barkley to grab hisring, but a new hand reached out to slam it shut. Maybe more than one hand and one of the hands is actually a back. Jordan's absence in 1994 and his late return in 1995 gave the rest of the NBA two chances to win a championship. Both championships are held by the Houston Rockets, not Barkley's Suns. However, in both playoff runs, the Rockets nearly lost to Phoenix. So what happened? The first thing you should know is that Hakeem Olajuwon, another 1984 draftee, was fucking incredible at this point in his career.

Jordan's baseball days coincided with two of Olajuwon's best seasons. He remained mostly healthy. He commanded the paint for an elite defense. His incomparable height and grace made him an unstoppable scorer, and if you focused too much on that, he had become very good at passing to a cast of improving teammates who had the green light to shoot from the outside. Hakeem turned the Rockets into a powerful enemy. A second very important variable was Barkley's health. His back had caused him problems before, including during his MVP year, and his 1993-94 season began with a pinched nerve in training camp that left him face up on the floor, unable to move.

Sore and still in a bad mood, Barkley once again contemplated retiring at the end of the season. He tore his right quadriceps tendon in January 1994, and honestly, that might have been a blessing in disguise because the month-long absence gave him time to rest his back and prepare for the playoffs. And he looked very good in the first round. Phoenix's sweep of the Warriors included a 56-point performance by Barkley in game three. - Barkley played two more. He has 56 points. -He received Rolfing treatment immediately after that series. That was the same first round in which the league's best regular-season team, the Seattle SuperSonics, lost to the Nuggets in a historic upset.

Houston and Phoenix were the next best teams in the West, so their second-round matchup seemed likely to produce the eventual West finalist. After two games, clearly that was going to be Phoenix. They twice surpassed Olajuwon's ungodly numbers and double-digit deficits. A record 20-point comeback in the fourth quarter forced overtime and in the second game, the Suns finally won. Phoenix thus stole the first two games in Houston. Johnson played very well, Majerle made it rain threes. The bench, which now included the veteran AC Green, came out ahead. Even a limping Barkley stepped up to lose 34 and 15 in the second game.

The Arizona Republic predicted that his home team would win not just the series, but the entire thing, while the Houston Chronicle, in a now-infamous sports page, saw fit to nickname his hometown Choke City. Charles said if the Suns couldn't do it now, it would be their fault. But after playing 50 minutes in the second game, Barkley's spine was weakened and he played poorly in Phoenix. Johnson was brilliant in the next two games, but Vernon Maxwell turned a Houston comeback into a complete blowout in game three and Kenny Smith complemented Olajuwon with outside shots to even the series in game four.

The Rockets returned to Houston with home field advantage restored. Charles refused to make excuses, but his valiant 30-point performance in game five unfortunately coincided with Johnson's worst game of the round and a scoreless night for Majerle. The Suns were defeated and fell behind in the series. Although Phoenix made it to the seventh game, they had no chance to stop Hakeem in the deciding match. Olajuwon was incredible and rookie Sam Cassell played a great game off the bench. Barkley was so frustrated by the pain and failure that he simply started pushing people in the final seconds and he was ejected instead of waiting for the final buzzer to ring.

Charles was ready to quit the sport as a loser if doctors determined his back would need surgery, but he recovered enough to continue playing. He and the Suns had another injury-plagued season in 1994-95, but once again managed to sweep the Blazers in the first round and once again took the lead in the second-round series over the Rockets. This time, they were the top seed and handled their home games to go 2-0 behind big nights from Barkley and Johnson. Barkley went 0 for 10 in the Game 3 loss, so he let Johnson take the reins and dominate every aspect of a Game 4 victory in Houston.

A team Barkley nicknamed Butt-Kicking Incorporated felt this particular ass was about to get kicked. The Rockets were in a bad mood, short

handed

and badly banged up. AC Green even went so far as to guarantee the series victory, and that seemed an even safer bet when Houston newcomer Clyde Drexler fell victim to a stomach flu and offered virtually no support to Olajuwon during Game 5 in Phoenix. But despite another great game from KJ, the Suns just gave him away. Barkley was one of several players who missed key free throws down the stretch, allowing Olajuwon to send the game into overtime, where the deflated Suns would crumble for good.

The Rockets took care of Game 6 at home and suddenly the Suns, after all that talk, faced another Game 7. And they actually took a big lead at halftime. Barkley suffered again, this time from knee soreness that required multiple injections midway through the game, but Johnson took charge. Phoenix had a chance to put the game out of reach when foul trouble sent Olajuwon to the bench for much of the third quarter. But Houston's Kenny Smith kept the minute and Olajuwon returned for a masterful fourth. With seven seconds left and the game tied, Houston bench player Mario Elie received the ball in his favorite spot and hit one of the most successful three-pointers in NBA history, followed by the famous kiss of death. .

Ironically, the team that had missed key free throws in Game 5 sealed its fate when Ainge scored what was supposed to be an intentional miss that was down two points in the final seconds. If only he had had the same luck in his final prayer from half court. - And the Houston Rockets return to the Western Conference Finals. - Then the '95 Suns ruined it again in an even more humiliating way. As the Rockets struggled to win another championship, Charles, physically and mentally devastated, said that this time he would actually retire. He didn't, but maybe he should have.

The Suns began to fall apart in the following seasons, so while preparing for the 1996 Olympics, Charles made a fuss and secured a trade to join Hakeem on the Rockets. He hoped to ride his coattails to claim one of those trophies before injuries took him down for good. But as some people anticipated, all Charles did was make an old, slow team older and slower. Houston's best chance to do something with an aging core of legends went away when John Stockton bunted them out in Game 6 in 1997. Barkley spent his remaining years injured and inferior. And as they transitioned into a new era, the Rockets never came close to being a contender.

It probably didn't matter since Jordan's Bulls had destroyed everyone again. After years of retirement threats, what really ended Barkley's career was a quadriceps rupture in 1999. The 37-year-old returned the following April for a six-minute stint and a single basket, only to be able to exit in their own terms relatively. speech. And yes, Barkley came out without a ring. His Sixers peaked before he arrived. His prime coincided with that of Michael Jordan and the Bulls, and his best chance to topple their dynasty contains some really bad breaks. Untimely injuries and another monster from the 1984 draft class led to devastating collapses in Jordan's absence.

By the time Barkley began brazenly pursuing a ring, that team and his own body were already gone. Fortunately, we have many other ways to measure greatness. In a team sport, a player can only do so much and Charles Barkley did almost all he could.