Charles Barkley is an all-time great. The former Phoenix Suns star is often considered one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA, and many regard Barkley to be one of the best NBA players in the 1990s. But Barkley knows, as great as his legacy is, he isn’t quite at the level of some of the biggest legends in NBA history.
As part of a prologue for her new podcast ‘Icons Club’, Jackie MacMullan shared a snippet of Charles Barkley talking about his legacy as a player. He noted that him never winning a championship holds him back from being named in the same breath as some of the best to ever do it, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James (8:03 onwards)
“Listen. I didn’t win a championship. So Magic, Larry, Michael, Kobe, LeBron, Kareem. Guys like that, we in the same building but we’re not on the same floor.”
All of the names that Barkley mentioned have a decent argument for being considered the greatest of all time, or at least in the top 5 greatest players ever list. And while it isn’t the only thing that defines their legacy, the championships they won during their career have had a significant effect on their legacy and how the NBA world views them in the grand scheme of things.
Barkley was sensational during his time in the NBA, a perennial All-Star and one of the few players to usurp Michael Jordan to win regular-season MVP during MJ’s prime. But the big blemish on Barkley’s resume is his lack of championship success. The closest Barkley got was in 1993, when he and the Suns were defeated in 6 games by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
