"Of course Charles and I would've worked": Reggie Miller makes stunning revelation on how Pacers 'snatched' him before teaming with Charles Barkley
To this day, Reggie Miller is viewed as the greatest player in Indiana Pacers history. However, the Hall of Fame shooter recently revealed where he thought he was going on draft night.
While on Instagram live, Reggie Miller talked about hearing his name called in the 1987 NBA draft. The Pacers selected him 11th, but he thought he was going to the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 16. Leading up to the draft, Philadelphia informed him they planned on taking him to pair him with Charles Barkley.
“Of course Charles and I could have worked as teammates... In fact, it was told me that it was going to happen in 1987 when I was visiting teams," Miller said. "I can’t remember the owner or general manager was at the time, but they were like, 'we’re selecting you at NO. 16.'”
“I was like, OK great I get to play with Sir Charles. This going to be awesome. Indiana had different ideas at number 11. They snatched me up. I thought for the longest I was going to be a Philadelphia 76er at the 16th selection.”
Reggie Miller went on to 18 seasons with the Pacers where he would be named an All-Star five times and receive All-NBA honors on three separate occasions. He finished his career with averages of 18.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Would Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley been a dominant duo in the NBA?
As two future Hall of Famers, Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley would have been a formidable duo for the Philadelphia 76ers. Along with being star-level players, their skill sets complemented each other nicely.
By the time 1987 rolled around, Barkley had cemented himself as a star in the NBA. Dr. J and Moses Malone were gone, making him the lone star of the franchise moving forward. That year, Barkley earned the second All-Star nomination of his career after averaging 28.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
If the Sixers were able to draft Miller, the franchise might have been able to steal another championship in the 1980s. At the time, there was a changing of the guard going on in the NBA. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were at the end of their rivalry, and Michael Jordan was still a young star. This left the landscape of the league wide open.
There is no telling if Barkley and Miller would have gotten the job done, but they would have been in a great position to do so. The main team in their way would have been Isiah Thomas and the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons.