When Charles Barkley was drafted fifth overall in the 1984 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, the Auburn University star didn’t know much about his new city.
“Sir Charles” admitted that it took him a while to adjust to the city of Philadelphia because it was a massive change compared to Alabama, where he spent his college years.
“ It was night and day coming to Philly. It was a culture shock, and that changed my personality 110 percent. You're either going to get eaten or eat them. It's a very difficult place to play. It was very difficult for me to realize that no matter what I said, I couldn’t make everybody happy ,” Barkley told SLAM in 2011.
Barkley’s Sixers tenure
The 11-time All-Star spent eight seasons in Philadelphia where he bloomed into a prolific player. Barkley averaged 23.3 points and 11.6 rebounds in the 610 games he played as a Sixer . He even won the best rebounder award in 1987 as well as the All-Star Game MVP in 1991.
Mentored by Moses Malone — who Barkley claims was the most important person in his basketball career — Chuckster played in the Eastern Conference Finals right away in his rookie year. The Sixers were competitive for the first few years of Barkley’s career until they weren’t anymore.
Despite his instant rise in Philadelphia though, Barkley had a love-hate relationship with the city, especially towards the media — who the Hall of Famer thought were ruthless to black athletes like himself.
“ The fans were great but the media was awful. As the star I got all the blame if we didn’t win. The first thing is that we didn’t draft well. We traded our pick for guys who never played. Of course there’s a racial aspect to it. When white guys talk about sports, they’re experts; when black guys talk about sports, they’re loudmouth jerks. When I said something it bothered them. Most people look at jocks as big strong guys, but most people don’t think we got brains ,” Barkley stated.
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Barkley’s way or the highway
Chuck was so fed up with the media that by midway through his Sixers tenure, he changed his approach towards them, from trying to please the public in his early years in the league to embracing the thought of just being himself — whether or not it got him into trouble.
“ … So that’s when I started saying that I’m just gonna do things my way. Either they’re going to accept it or not. Half are gonna like it and half are not. Anybody in the limelight has to accept that and that’s just the way it is ,” Barkley said.
Funnily enough, Barkley continued the “my way or the highway” approach when he transitioned into sports media, where he currently works as an NBA analyst for TNT.
It’s the reason why the 1993 NBA MVP is considered one of the most outspoken analysts today, whether it’s through his hilarious jokes on air, criticisms, or banter with the likes of Shaquille O’Neal. The reason why Sir Charles is the way he is today is because of what he went through in Philadelphia.
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