When the Phoenix Suns won the Western Conference title in 1993, they had the best player in the world.
Well, according to Charles Barkley, anyway.
The following couple of weeks served to change his opinion, and today, Barkley believes there is now only one player who was “better at basketball” than Barkley.
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In an interview with Dan Patrick from the American Century Championship at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, on July 11, Barkley expanded on his conversion.
Patrick asked, “Did you think you were better than Jordan?”
Barkley, taking himself back to the pre-1993 NBA Finals, said: “Yes!”
And later followed with this: “Dan, let me tell you this: I did not think Michael Jordan was better than me til he beat me in the finals. When I was in Philly, we actually had success against them. They beat us in the playoffs one year, but I thought that was just because he had better players around him.”
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Barkley was undeniably at his best when he came to Phoenix in a blockbuster trade with the 76ers.
“When I got traded to Phoenix, Chuck Daly (the 1992 US Dream Team coach) had told me, ‘You’re the second-best player in the world.’ I said, ‘I’m the best (expletive) player in the world.’
“He says, ‘No, that guy right over there is the best player in the world.’ I said, “Well, I’m gonna prove it to your ass this year when we play them in the finals. … This is during the Dream Team practices. I said, ‘Chuck, I’m the best player in the world and I’m gonna prove it to you.'”
Barkley carried his confidence from the Olympics into the preseason in Phoenix.
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“I remember telling the guys that, going into training camp, I said we’re gonna play the Bulls in the finals,” Barkley said. “They said, ‘How do you know that?’ I said I’m the best damn player in the world and I’m gonna prove it.”
Suns fans are very well aware of what happened next.
“I remember going home after Game 2,” Barkley said. “My daughter was upset, crying we lost the first two games and I said just said, ‘Relax we’re gonna be fine. (But) I gotta tell you something. I ain’t never said this to anyone: That guy might be better than I am … but I think I’m better and we’ll be fine.”’
The Suns won two of the next three games.
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Barkley said he focused on the fact that basketball is a team game — and he had great teammates.
“Once I got Dan Majerle and Kevin Johnson, I said we can beat anybody,” he said.
“I said (to my daughter), ‘I told you I think I’m the best player in the world, and I’m gonna prove it.’ Then they beat us.”
After the infamous John Paxson 3-pointer in Game 6 sealed his team’s fate, it was time to officially reconsider his legacy as he spoke to his daughter.
“I remember telling her, I says, ‘I ain’t never said this to you before but that guy is better at basketball than me.’ That’s the only player I ever played against that I thought was better than me.”
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns’ Charles Barkley changed his mind on NBA’s best