Watch: Furious Charles Barkley threatens to punch a trolling fan on street: "He would've felt bad if I would've punched him"
TNT analyst and NBA legend Charles Barkley was on the receiving end of heckling from a fan who taunted him over his lack of NBA championships. Barkley, an 11-time All-Star and the NBA MVP in 1993 came closest to winning a ring the same season but saw his Phoenix Suns side defeated in the Finals by the Chicago Bulls.
However, despite being one of the best players in the NBA’s history and playing for 16 seasons, the Round Mound of Rebound finished without a championship, which is often brought up. The same situation occurred during a recent outing when he was heckled by streamer Snarp, who initially taunted him as the guy ‘with no championship rings:’
“The guy with no championship rings, he sucked at basketball, zero rings. Haha, he has zero rings. You are Jordan’s son, Imagine not winning an NBA championship.”
The streamer then turned to a random worker who was a witness to the incident, who ended up bursting into laughter when Snarp said the following:
“The guy has no championship rings, yeah he has no rings.”
While Barkley’s time as an analyst has led to him becoming one of the most hilarious, and wholesome faces on NBA television, he also has a flaring temper. It made its presence known as Barkley uttered the following:
“Now what if I punched him in the face? He would have felt bad if I just punched him in the face.”
While the 61-year-old began to walk towards the streamer after uttering the above, he was escorted away by a member of security and seemed to realize that he did not need to respond further.
Charles Barkley is one of the best NBA players who never won a championship
While Barkley is a bonafide legend and was a menacing presence on both ends of the court during his career, perhaps the biggest regret comes from his lack of championships. Chuck joined the NBA in 1984 as the 5th pick of the NBA draft and quickly established himself as one of the best rebounders and scorers in the league.
Part of the 1992 Dream Team, Chuck once claimed in his book, Barkley: A Biography from Timothy Bella, that he found respite in representing his country at the Olympics:
“What he’d find out in later years was how those two weeks in Barcelona helped shape the world’s feelings toward the game and inspired generations of international talent to enter the sport. For now, though, the anthem belonged to Charles. He whispered the same three words to himself: ‘I made it. If I never win a championship, at least no one can take this away from me.”
Hence, while Barkley was never able to win a championship and is often trolled by fans and his colleagues about the same, he still had an illustrious career that he has every right to be extremely proud of. While it never gave him a championship ring, Barkley’s number 34 jersey was retired by both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Phoenix Suns.
Apart from being the NBA MVP in 1993, he had five All-NBA First Team selections, and five All-NBA Second Team appearances, and will always be seen as one of the most dominant forces the league ever saw. Indeed, the former superstar has every right to believe that he 'made it.'