For decades, people have debated whether Michael Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history or not. And, although everybody’s entitled to their opinion, he sure did enough merits to be granted that distinction.
One of the biggest arguments to back Jordan’s case was how dominant he was. It’s not that he won three rings in a row twice, but how he prevented multiple legends of the game from winning a ring.
Perhaps one of the biggest ringless superstars of all time is Charles Barkley, who led the Suns to the NBA Finals but couldn’t get past Jordan’s Bulls. And, even though they’ve been friends since the 90s, Barkley still believes that Jordan should’ve never said that he deserved MVP over him in 1993.
Charles Barkley Says He Deserved MVP Over Michael Jordan
“No. 1, he didn’t deserve it. We had the best record in the NBA. Michael should know better. There were years he was the best player in the NBA probably three years before he won MVP, but the Bulls team was no good. The MVP has always gone to the best player on the team with the best record. It has nothing to do with best player,” Barkley said, per Fadeaway World.
Barkley Says He Would’ve Won With Jordan’s Teammates
Moreover, Barkley is unfazed by Jordan’s taunts and trash-talk when they see each other. According to the Suns’ legend, he would’ve been as successful as Jordan if he had the same teammates:
(Transcript via Fadeaway World)
“If I get the rest of the guys laughing at him, he would always bring up the ‘How many rings you got?‘. He always throws that one at me. I mean I wasn’t lucky enough to play with Scottie Pippen”. While the audience had a good laugh about this statement, Michael may have missed it, so he looked confused. Therefore, Barkley rephrased “If I had Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, I would’ve won something too. I love my teammates, but they weren’t as good as Scottie and Dennis.”
Notably, Pippen and Barkley did play together for a brief time but they were both past their prime and never got along. So yeah, it’s impossible to say, but Jordan did have his fair share of superstar teammates.
