Charles Barkley Shares Hilarious Dream Team Stories: “I Think Clyde Drexler Got On Two Left Shoes”
· Yahoo Sports
Hall of Famer Charles Barkley was part of the iconic Dream Team that crushed the competition on its way to winning gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. While those players had a lot of fun dominating on the court, they had a blast off it as well. So, when Barkley appeared on the Wingmen podcast, he was asked for his top three Dream Team memories.
“Me, Michael [Jordan], and Magic [Johnson], and Scottie Pippen would play cards every night, and we drink a case of beer,” Barkley said. “So we’d be feeling pretty good. We play to like 4 in the morning, every night. Then we’re like, we got practice or a game? If we had a game, it was different. We could sleep all day. But we had practice. We’re like, we break up around 4:00 so we can get a couple hours sleep before practice.
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“So this one day I call timeout,” Barkley continued. “I said, ‘Coach [Chuck] Daily, I think I might have to sit this one out. I think I’m a little drunk.’ He says, ‘How do you know you’re drunk, Chuck?’ I says, ‘I think Clyde Drexler got on two left shoes.’ We look over. Clyde says, ‘It was dark in the room. I do have on two left shoes.’ Guys, to this day, we never let him f***ing forget that.”
Clyde Drexler wasn’t playing those card games with this group, but he might have had a bit too much to drink the night before. No matter how dark it was, Drexler should have noticed something different about the shoe he’d worn on his right foot, and Barkley told him as much. It’s no surprise that they still get on the 64-year-old over it.
As for Drexler’s play on the court for Team USA, he averaged 10.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game at the Olympics. He was one of five players on the team to average over 10 points a night, along with the likes of Barkley and Michael Jordan. Speaking of Jordan, the second (and last) story was about just how crazy he was.
“Me, him and Chuck Daly and David Robinson go play golf one day,” Barkley said. “So we play 18 holes. Michael says, ‘I’mma play another 18.’ Chuck’s like, ‘Michael, we got a game.’ He’s like, ‘Chuck, I’m good.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So we get to the game, and Chuck’s like, ‘Magic, you got this guy. Chuck, you got this guy. David’s guy. Michael.’ He says, ‘I got that other guy.’ Like, ‘Michael, he’s the point guard.’
“And Michael looks up and says, ‘He said some s*** about me in the newspaper,'” Barkley continued. “This how f***ing nuts this dude is when it come to competition. And he says, ‘I said I got him.’ Guys, let me tell you something. Michael is guarding this guy like it’s Game 7. He’s screaming at the kid the whole f***ing time, ‘I’m f***ing Michael Jordan. Don’t you ever disparage me.’
“We’re looking, this kid is scared to dribble,” Barkley added. “Every time he gets the ball, Michael says, ‘I’m f***ing Michael Jordan. Don’t you ever [disparage me].’ Like he says the same s*** over and over, we were like, ‘Yo, man, is something wrong with this dude?’ Like, it is really something wrong with this dude. Those are my two favorite Olympic stories.”
The player Barkley spoke of was Federico “Fico” Lopez, and this famously happened during the Tournament of the Americas. It was the qualifying tournament for the Olympics, and Team USA faced Lopez’s Puerto Rico in the semifinals.
Jordan had felt disrespected by comments Lopez made before that clash, and as we all know by now, that spells trouble. The point guard went scoreless that night (0-1 FG) as he faced the superstar’s wrath. Jordan was one of the best defenders in the game, and it’s hardly a surprise that Lopez couldn’t do anything against him.
Team USA blew out Puerto Rico 119-81 in the semifinals, and this actually proved to be their closest margin of victory in the tournament. They crushed Venezuela 127-80 in the final to finish 6-0, and that was a sign of things to come.
The Dream Team went 8-0 at the Olympics, and their average margin of victory was 43.8 points. Head coach Chuck Daly had told his players he shouldn’t have to call a timeout with how talented a group they were, and he never had to. They were just ridiculously dominant.
Barkley was arguably Team USA’s best player on that grand stage. He averaged 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.6 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game at the 1992 Olympics. Barkley was the team’s leading scorer and, had there been an MVP award at the time, he probably would have won it.