Larry Bird was one of the fiercest competitors in the NBA. The Boston Celtics legend wasn’t afraid of anybody, showing that night in and night out. Larry knew he was a threat to the rest of the teams in the league, which explains why he was mad when rivals didn’t show him the respect he deserved.
Back in 2020, Charles Barkley told the story of when Bird was mad after the Philadelphia 76ers put a white player on Larry. During an interview on The Dan Patrick Show, Chuck detailed:
“I remember he was cursing under his breath, and I asked Larry what’s going on with you? He says, ‘You guys are being disrespectful to me.’ I say, what are you talking about. He says, ‘You guys are putting a white guy on me. That’s disrespectful.'”
If you don’t know, Bird was a white player himself, but he knew he deserved better than that. That player was a menace and nobody was able to stop him during his best days.
Barkley didn’t remember the player’s name, but he never forgot how mad Bird was at the Sixers. This shows how great Larry Legend was and how serious he was about basketball.
He was a very cool guy off the court, but Bird was ready to destroy his rivals once the game started, as John Stockton recalled.
