Charles Barkley saw himself at a crossroads in the 1995 offseason. While he had another stellar season with the Phoenix Suns , it seems the team had already peaked.
He faced the question of whether or not he wanted to continue his career. Barkley said retirement was still far from his mind, especially since he was still one of the league's best players.
"Yeah, as long as I'm playing well, I'd like to keep playing," he told Jeramie McPeek of Slam . "A lot of people are saying that I'm suckin', but I still play better than anyone else."
"Unless I'm dominating every night, people are going to say I'm playing bad. I mean, there's only three or four guys in the world that are averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, and I'm one of them, and I keep hearing how good the others are, so I must be pretty good," Charles added.
Barkley and the Suns' 1994-95 season in review
Perhaps asking "Sir Charles" about his plans to play beyond the 1994-95 season was somewhat untimely—he was coming off a campaign in which he led the Suns to the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs and placed sixth in the MVP voting.
Moreover, as Barkley alluded to, he was still good for a nightly 20-10 performance. However, Chuck might have misnumbered the other players with that average stat line that season. Joining him on the list were Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing. Still, that was quite an impressive collection of legends.
Phoenix looked poised to reach the conference finals but lost to the defending champions, the Houston Rockets , despite taking a 3-1 lead with two opportunities to close the series at home. Chuck could have avoided being criticized for his choke job after helping the Suns take control early in Game 7. But Olajuwon was unstoppable in the fourth quarter to lift the Rockets to a 115-114 win.
Barkley joined the Rockets a year later
Opting to continue playing for the Suns proved rewarding for the Hall of Famer, even if the team got bounced in the first round of the 1996 playoffs.
He proved that he still got it by being the West's All-Star vote leader in the 1995-96 campaign and joined the 20,000-point, 10,000-rebound club during the same season.
Barkley's desire to continue competing at a high level led him to Houston in the 1996 offseason. A roster featuring himself, Olajuwon, and Clyde Drexler looked quite formidable on paper and gave the aging star a last opportunity to secure a ring, even if he once said he " wouldn't even have counted that as a championship " had they won.
Unfortunately, injuries had caught up with the trio by then, and Chuck had to bid farewell to his playing career after the 1999-00 campaign.
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