Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is widely regarded as one of the two greatest players of all time, but Charles Barkley does not have him in his NBA Mount Rushmore. Barkley was asked to name his during an interview with Golf Digest, and here’s who he went with.
“Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan, and Bill Russell,” Barkley said.
Each of the four players Barkley named is an all-time great. They had remarkable careers.
Michael Jordan is generally regarded as the greatest of all time. Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. He made 14 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams. Jordan remains the NBA’s all-time leader for career scoring average in the regular season at 30.1 points per game and playoffs at 33.4 points per game.
We next get to Magic Johnson, who is regarded by many as the greatest point guard of all time. Johnson won five titles, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, and four assists titles. He made 12 All-Star and 10 All-NBA teams. Like Jordan, Johnson’s career averages of 11.2 assists per game in the regular season and 12.3 assists per game in the playoffs are the highest in NBA history.
Johnson’s great rival, Larry Bird, joins him on Barkley’s Mount Rushmore. Bird won three titles, two Finals MVPs, and three MVPs. He made 12 All-Star, 10 All-NBA, and three All-Defensive teams. Bird was considered the best small forward of all time until a certain Akron native came along.
The last spot on Barkley’s Mount Rushmore went to the late-great Bill Russell. Russell won a record 11 NBA championships, to go with five MVP awards and four rebounding titles. He made 12 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and one All-Defensive team. Russell would have made more All-Defensive teams and would have won some Finals MVPs, but they were only introduced in his final season. The DPOY award, meanwhile, didn’t even exist during his career.
So, none of these players is out of place here. That said, James still should be in there. The 41-year-old has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. James has made 21 All-Star, 21 All-NBA, and six All-Defensive teams. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (42,545) and ranks fourth for assists (11,698).
Most wouldn’t be surprised by Barkley excluding James here. The Hall of Famer hasn’t always been too complimentary of him, even ranking him as the seventh greatest player of all time in the past. What’s quite notable is that Bird and Johnson weren’t among the six players ahead of James. Barkley had Jordan, Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and Kobe Bryant in his top six.
As for why there’s a difference, Barkley might not be looking at Mount Rushmore and the all-time list as the same. Back in 2022, he had Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Bird, Johnson, Jordan, Bryant, and James on his Mount Rushmore. Barkley called them the most important figures in basketball and stated that without them, today’s players won’t be making $50 million a year. There looks to be a clear difference here.
Barkley answered 34 questions in total in this interview with Golf Digest. He was asked to describe his basketball career in one word and went with blessed. Barkley also named Phoenix as the favorite city in which he played basketball.
It was with the Phoenix Suns from 1992 to 1996 that Barkley had his greatest years. He was named MVP in 1993 and led the Suns to the NBA Finals that year. Unfortunately for him, Jordan and his Chicago Bulls stood in the way. The Bulls won the Finals in six games, and 1993 would remain the only year that Barkley got to the big stage in his career. He has gone down as one of the greatest players never to win a title.
