Charles Barkley talks about nearly being traded to the LA Lakers

The TNT analyst and former NBA star discussed his possible trade to the Los Angeles Lakers while he was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Leading up to the NBA All-Star Game, TNT analyst Charles Barkley participated an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch. the interview touch on myriad topics, from politics to race to Timofey Mozgov.

Interestingly, Barkley opened up about almost being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1992 while he was on the Philadelphia 76ers, but having the trade fall through.

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From Sports Illustrated:

"“The Sixers backed out,” he said. “It was going crazy for two weeks so I knew it would come down to Portland, [the] Lakers, or Phoenix. So I get a call from my agent one morning and he said, ‘Philly has traded you to the Lakers.’ So I went to lunch and started drinking. I’m f***ing so excited that I am going to the Lakers. Three hours later, I get a f***ing phone call from my agent saying that the Sixers backed out of the deal. I said, ‘Oh, s***, I’m feeling pretty good right now.’ So I went out and played that night…I played pretty well. I wasn’t blasted, just a couple of drinks at lunch. I mean, I was excited to get the hell out of Philly.”"

It’s always a good choice to get smashed at lunch whenever you change jobs.

Barkley would have joined the Lakers just at the death of the “Showtime” squad, right after Magic Johnson retired. He would have filled the interim between Magic and the Shaq/Kobe Lakers of the late 1990s and early 2000s. We would have to rename the Nick Van Exel Era.

Barkley was instead traded to the Phoenix Suns, and immediately found success there, taking the Suns to the Finals against the Chicago Bulls where they lost in six games.

Barkley ripped into Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey on the supposed value of analytics during Inside the NBA.

He further clarified that it wasn’t a personal attack on Morey, but more an attack at the supposed pretensions of the analytics movement.

"“I have nothing against Daryl Morey.” He continued, “But what annoys me about Daryl Morey is they [the Rockets] go out and get James Harden. Then, they go get Dwight Howard. They go get Trevor Ariza. They go after Carmelo Anthony. They go after Chris Bosh. How is that analytics, just getting better players?”"

Well, the Rockets are 36-17 coming out of the All-Star Break with an MVP caliber season out of James Harden, so Morey’s analytics plan of “getting better players” appears to be working.

[H/T: Sports Illustrated]

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