Charles Barkley recalls feelings of being on 1992 Olympic Team
In 1992, NBA players were admitted to play in the Olympics. That opened up the United States to put together a Dream Team of future Hall of Fame players. Among the legends was current TV commentator Charles Barkley.
Barkley appeared on the Bird and Taurasi Show during the women’s national title game. There, he opened up about his feeling about being a member of the Dream Team.
“It was by far and away the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Charles Barkley said.
“To be honest with y’all, we didn’t know how big it was going to be. We knew it was going to be the Olympics but when we got there, we had 5,000 people outside the hotel every day watching us get on the bus. We had thousands of people on the highway when we were driving to the games just holding up signs.”
As Barkley explained, the Dream Team had people obsessed with it. In particular, the team’s superstars were some of the most popular at the Olympics and even needed to have protection for the team.
“Most of them had Michael [Jordan], Magic [Johnson] and [Larry] Bird — there was a couple other guys that had a sign — but most of them were Bird, Magic and Michael. We had a police car, a motorcycle in front of the car, behind the bus, two on the side with machine guns, we had a helicopter above the bus. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever been a part of,” Barkley said.
“But I tell people; representing your country is the coolest thing I’ve ever been blessed to do and I’m thankful I got to play in two Olympics. That’s the best thing that ever happened to me in my life.”
Charles Barkley was a dominant force during the Olympics. Sir Charles led Team USA with 18 points per game. He also had 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 2.6 steals a game. The United States would win gold and Barkley returned in 1996 to win gold with Team USA for a second time.
Charles Barkley ranted about WNBA players being forced to play abroad
Charles Barkley is an advocate for the women’s game. In particular, he wants WNBA players to earn better opportunities, which he feels they’ve earned.
“The WNBA is a great product, but y’all should not have to go to these crap countries to make money. The American companies should put y’all in commercials, they should partner with y’all. Even if they don’t put you in commercials, they should partner with you, go back and improve these communities. I’m after these American companies to step up so y’all don’t have to go play in these other countries. They need to do their part,” Barkley said.
“I don’t understand why these companies haven’t been partnering with y’all for years and years. You ladies should be on commercials everywhere. We put bad NBA players in commercials before some of y’all superstars. That’s what makes me mad. I’d love to have Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on commercials. I’m not going to call out some of the bad NBA players we got in commercials but y’all know who they are.”