Charles Barkley opens up on his relationship with Nick Saban, reveals impactful gesture he made

Although Charles Barkley starred at Auburn, he’s forged quite the relationship with a high-profile rival coach. In fact, he’s so close with Nick Saban that he calls the Alabama coach “a friend.”

“I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him,” Barkley said of Saban on The Paul Finebaum Show this week.

Barkley and Saban have built a unique bond, especially considering the Iron Bowl rivalry between Auburn and Alabama. But some great gestures from Saban stood out to Barkley, especially in the last few years. The Crimson Tide headman is known to bring in high-profile guests to deliver messages to his team, and Barkley was one of them. He pointed out everything athletes have to deal with today, especially with social media and how closely people watch what they do.

The fact that Saban extended an invitation to speak — and the timing of it, which allowed him to talk about much more than social media — stood out to Barkley, he said.

“He did a couple things that really made me feel proud, and I consider him a friend,” Barkley said. “He called me one year to talk to the team and things like that about these kids are different than us. They’ve got to deal with social media. They don’t get to screw up like we did in my day and nobody knew about it. Everything is on social media today.

“But the one thing he did that really meant a great deal to me, he called me and asked me to come speak to his young, Black players about what it’s like. Especially when all of the George Floyd things were going on. That really meant a lot to me and I’ll always be appreciative. These kids, it’s different now. They’re under so much pressure, Paul, with the TikTok, with the Instagram, the Facebook. People out there insulting them. Everybody gets together with their opinion. These kids, man, I admire them for handling the pressure.”

Of course, Barkley has represented his alma mater with pride since his days in the NBA. One of the most famous instances was during the 2019 NCAA Tournament when he reacted accordingly to Auburn’s Final Four game against Virginia. But he has made clear how much he cherishes his friendship with Saban, although it’s obvious who he wants to win when the Tigers and Crimson Tide square off in the annual Iron Bowl.