When Charles Barkley recalled getting death threats as part of 1992 Olympics Dream Team
In 1992, Charles Barkley was picked to join what became known as "The Dream Team." This collection of the U.S. men's basketball team is still regarded as the greatest team ever assembled.
While things went smoothly for Barkley and the Dream Team on the court, they had their struggles outside of the game. Mainly with their freedom to walk around.
Typically, all the athletes stay together in the Olympic Village. However, the Dream Team stayed in a nearby luxury hotel. This was not because they thought they were better than anyone, but for their safety.
During an interview, Charles Barkley opened up on how the team received death threats while the 1992 Olympics were underway. Staying in the luxury hotel allowed them to always be surrounded by security.
“In our hotel, you had to have a picture ID to get in there, and we went to the pool on the roof of the hotel, there was like 10 guys standing around with Uzis (submachine guns)," Barkley said. "So, it was kind of funny, it was like: girl in bikini, dude with an Uzi, girl in bikini, guy with Uzi.
"People thought we didn’t want to stay in the Olympic Village because we wanted to be big shots, but it was because we were getting death threats. They had told us this would be considered great by one of these terrorist groups if they could take out the Dream Team.”
Charles Barkley left his mark with the Dream Team
Given all the historic talent that was on the Dream Team, standing out was going to be a tough task. That being said, if anyone could do it, it was Charles Barkley.
Not only did he steal the show with his outlandish personality, but he dominated on the court as well. At the conclusion of the Olympic Games, Charles Barkley was the team's leading scorer at 16.3 points per game. That's an impressive feat considering he shared the floor with Michael Jordan.
Barkley managed to carry this impressive run into the next NBA season. He took home MVP with averages of 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Along with these dominant numbers, Barkley led the Phoenix Suns all the way to the NBA Finals. However, they came up short against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Eighteen years after they won a gold medal, the Dream Team was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a group in 2010.