Charles Barkley hysterically revisits taking U-turn from playing football after running into players for 2 hours as DL

NBA legend Charles Barkley enjoyed a highly successful 16-year NBA career, winning the 1993 MVP award and getting selected to 11 All-Star teams. However, before his basketball career, he tested his luck at football to no avail.

During an appearance on “Inside the NFL” on Tuesday, Barkley recounted the time he tried playing football. It’s unclear when his story took place, but according to the 60-year-old, he was tasked with being a defensive lineman.

His football career didn’t last long, though, as Barkley noted that he wasn’t cut out for the game’s physicality. Thus, he quit after his first day.

“I played football for one day,” Barkley said. “It wasn’t my cup of tea, man. They put me on the defensive line and I ran into a guy full speed for like two-and-a-half hours. I was like, ‘There’s zero talent in this thing right here.’

“I remember the last thing the coach said to me was, ‘I’ll see y’all tomorrow.’ I was like, ‘Yo, I’m not doing this tomorrow.’”

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After quitting football, Charles Barkley made better use of his size in NBA

Charles Barkley undoubtedly had the size to be a successful defensive lineman, listed at 6-foot-6, 252 pounds. Fortunately for Barkley, he took up basketball instead, a sport in which he made better use of his stature.

Nicknamed the “Round Mound of Rebound” to start his career, Barkley was viewed primarily as a rebounder. However, despite being a relatively undersized power forward, he developed into one of the NBA’s most dominant and versatile scorers.

The 11-time All-Star often got the best of players taller than him while making an all-around impact on the game.

“Barkley is like Magic [Johnson] and Larry [Bird] in that they don’t really play a position,” NBA legend Bill Walton said of Barkley. “He plays everything; he plays basketball. There is nobody who does what Barkley does. He’s a dominant rebounder, a dominant defensive player, a three-point shooter, a dribbler, a playmaker.”

Unfortunately for Barkley, his individual dominance never translated to championships. He made just one NBA Finals appearance over 16 seasons (1993), with his Phoenix Suns losing in six games to the Chicago Bulls.

Nonetheless, he remains one of seven players in NBA history with career totals of at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. His remarkable career resulted in him being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Additionally, he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021, designating him one of the league’s 75 greatest players of all time.

Thus, most would agree that Barkley would have had a tough time topping his success if he stuck with football.

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