JOIN OUR WHATSAPP CHANNEL
Throwback: When Charles Barkley Revealed Reason Behind Losing Motivation to Play in Houston
Charles Barkley has been known to be outspoken from his playing days and sometimes he got into trouble for it. Let's find out the reason behind his Houston departure.
Even though he never took home an NBA championship, Charles Barkley's career is legendary. Even though the Hall of Famer has been retired for many years, he is still recognized for the early work he did for the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns.
Chuck ended his playing career with the Houston Rockets, but the same cannot be said of his time there.
“The last couple of years, to be honest with you, I couldn't play. The Rockets still owe me $3 million. They robbed me outta that! I think I was a great guy to play with. Except for [' 92-93 Sixers teammates] Armon Gilliam and Charles Shackleford, I think the majority of teammates I played with enjoyed playing with me," Barkley said, reflecting on his NBA run.
In the summer of 1998, Barkley was to receive a $12 million contract offer from the Rockets. But the team asked the power forward to accept a pay cut, promising to make up for it the following summer, as they were determined to build a superteam by adding Scottie Pippen to Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon. Barkley countered that he purposefully put on a lot of weight and that the organization had betrayed its promise.
"The only year that I was fat was my last year in Houston because they had promised me $12 million," the Hall of Famer told Bill Simmons on the Any Given Wednesday show in 2016.
"They said, 'We'll give you $12 million next year.' So when I showed up the next year, they bring me a contract. I said, 'This looks like an eight.' They said, 'Yeah, we're going to give you $8 million. I said, 'What about the other $4 million?' They're like, 'Well, we just changed our mind.' So I wasn't motivated," Barkley added.
Despite this, the legendary forward averaged 16.5 points and 12.2 rebounds during his four years in Houston. He did, however, miss a great deal of games and only contributed to the team's one real postseason run, which ended in a six-game loss to the Utah Jazz in the 1997 Western Conference Finals.
Latest Articles
