NBA Legends Explain Why Charles Barkley Was Better Than Everyone

The problem teams had with Barkley is if you put a smaller guy on him he was too strong, if you put a bigger guy on him he was too quick. A enigma

Sir Charles was amazing. Despite 6'4, he scored 20000 points, 10000 rebounds and 4000 assists. One of several players who did that. Wilt, Kareem, LeBron, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and Garrett.

Barkley and Malone both put the "power" in power forward. Legends

A truly gifted hard-working son of a gun. An even more honest and generous person. I was in practice with Charles his last year in Houston...did not practice. But, he always showed up. Especially in game time. Love you Sir Charles!

As a kid Barkley was my favorite player. Still to this day my favorite all time. I wish he would have gotten a ring.

It's about time Sir Charles is getting some well deserved love !

Dr J said about him: "First time I tried to box him out at a practice I ended up in the 2nd row". Says it all!! physical strength and explosives rare to see!!!

I saw him play from 1991 and onwards, and I saw him as a rival to MJ, simply because he and the Suns went against the Bulls in the 93 Finals. Glad that the Bulls accomplished three peat, but looking back, he was at height of a 2-guard playing power forward, being able to outplay a guard to a center on both ends. Unique player, one of the precursors in playing position-less basketball. One of the greatest to ever play, rings or not.

The most complete PF ever. He had a handle, he could run the break, he could pass, he could shoot, he could finish with either hand, he played passing lanes well, he had a mean outlet pass, and he was at his best in the biggest games.

Literally my favorite player of all time! He inspired me to play the game and I’m only 5’6” but his tenacity and rebounding just changed my life and I actually started freshman through high school!

Charles Barkley is probably in my top 5 all time favorite players

Drop Charles in ANY era, and he's a problem for anyone trying to guard him

Charles Barkley is Simply one of the greatest players to ever play the game! Period!

I’m glad this video was made. The jokes over not having a ring have come to overshadow what an absolute force this dude was…on & off the court. And tbh people that have no business talking trash to him have tried it. Shaq & him can go back and forth as much as they want because they were absolute mountains amongst hills. But everyone else should take a step back. Especially as he mentioned…if you weren’t driving the bus. 😂

No kid wanted the '93 Suns to beat the Bulls more than me. Such a fun team to watch.

I always loved watching him play, wasn't a fan of his "i'm not a role model" schtick when I was younger, but now that I'm older I 100% get it. But going back and watching his highlights I forgot just how quick and agile he could be as well as that powerful/explosive player.

Barkley was a matchup nightmare to face. He was too fast for the big guys to guard and way too strong for smaller players to guard. Opposing coaches facing the Dream Team all said they had no answer for Barkley.

Barkley was the sole reason I became a Suns fan. Dude was an absolute beast.

I only had the opportunity to see Barkley play once in person. What stood out to me the most was that while everyone else was in the locker room pre-game (about 30 minutes prior to tipoff) Charles was alone on the court and he spent ten minutes doing two things: 1) schmoozing with the refs--who were cracking up with whatever he was telling them and 2) practicing his free throws. Never saw another player do anything similar and thought it was a brilliant part of his game....he already had a built in advantage from this simple pre-game strategy. And for his size, he was incredible and until they changed the rules (you can only have your back to the basket for five seconds if you have the ball) he was totally unstoppable in the post--he just kept backing down the defender then turn around for a two foot shot. Truly an all-time great player and competitor.

Will we ever see another 6’4 giant in the NBA like this Legend? So far I can’t think of anybody that’s done anything like sir Charles. I mean even Jordan’s game was able to be imitated by the late great Kobe but nobody has ever done what or can do what Charles has done. Can play 1-5 and be effective in all of them