Charles Barkley says he couldn’t compete in Warriors, NBA ‘small ball’ era

Getty Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors is congratulated by Draymond Green #23 and Andrew Bogut #12 after he dunked the ball against the Denver Nuggets.

While many are familiar with Charles Barkley’s hilarious commentary on TNT’s Inside The NBA, some don’t know how effective he was on the NBA court and how ahead of his time he was.

Do ya think I’m lying?

Please pay attention, class is in session.

For starters, in the era of small ball, did you know that Charles Barkley is the reason the NBA implemented the league’s five second “back down” rule that was implemented in 2001?

Listed at 6-foot-6, Barkley was a ball handling on the fast break, rebounding and smack talking mouth of the south out of Auburn.

If you’re tardy to the party, he was more 6-foot-four.

But don’t get it twisted, he put in work on the court. During his sixteen year NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets, the NBA Hall of Famer dropped an impressive 22.1 points, hauled in 11.7 rebounds and dished out 3.9 assists.

An achilles injury cut short the 11-time NBA All Star’s career in the late 90s. He’d transition into television.

With numbers like that, names like the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and DeMarcus Cousins, as well as the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid are easily comparable to the 11 time-NBA All Star, right?

GettyCharles Barkley is a proud alumnus of Auburn.

Not so fast, according to Charles Barkley. Barkley tells me that nobody plays like him.

In our recent chat, Barkley tells me that nobody plays like him and in fact, he couldn’t play in today’s NBA small ball era.

Check out our brief Q&A below:

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Asked a couple of players who they think is a throwback player for them. Many players say DeMarcus Cousins or Draymond Green played like them. When you look at the league, who do you think plays like you?

Charles Barkley: Play like me?

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: Yeah, in the league currently.

Charles Barkley: I don’t think. I’d think it’ll be harder for me to play in the league today, the way they play today is with stretch threes [Small Forward] and fours [Power Forward]. So, I don’t think none of these guys play like me. There stretch threes and stretch fours. I’d think it would have been a lot harder for me to play in the game today. Even though I think I’d be successful, it would have been more challenging trying to guard those little guys out on the floor. So, I really don’t think that there’s anybody that plays like me today.