Charles Barkley

NBA Hall of Famer

Career Highlights:  One of the most colorful  NBA players of all-time, “Sir Charles” was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006…Considered one of the most dominating power forwards NBA history, Barkley currently serves as an NBA studio analyst on TNT’s popular “Inside the NBA” show…The fourth player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists in a career (along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Karl Malone), Barkley was named to the NBA’s 50 All-Time Greatest Players List…A perennial All-Star (11 times) and All-NBA (five-time First Team) selection during his career, his pinnacle may have been winning the NBA Most Valuable Player award in 1993, his first season with the Phoenix Suns…He led the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals….Barkley played his first eight seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers then finished his career with the Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets…He finished his career with averages of 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 1,073 games…A member of the 1992 and 1996 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic basketball teams, Barkley was named Sports Illustrated’s 2002 “Personality of the Year”…Barkley was popular with the fans and the media, and made the NBA’s All-Interview Team for each of his last 13 seasons in the league…He retired in 1999 after a career-ending knee injury…While at Auburn University he was selected as the Southeastern Conference Player of the Decade (1980s) and the 1984 SEC Player of the Year…He has written several books including “Who’s Afraid of a Large Black Man?,” “I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It” “Sir Charles:  The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley” and “Outrageous!” and has expressed an interest at the possibility of a career in politics.

Updated: May, 2008
Courtesy NBC