By the end of the 1992 season, Charles Barkley was coming off six consecutive All-Star team appearances with the Philadelphia 76ers. His time with Philly had come to an end at that point, and according to the Hall of Famer, he actually preferred to have been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers instead of the Phoenix Suns.
Barkley went on The Lowe Post podcast with ESPN's Zach Lowe and it was here where he made the revelation about having the Blazers as his first choice.
“Portland was my first choice because Portland had enough talent to give up for me and we'd still be a contender,” Barkley said. “They had lost to the [Chicago] Bulls in the Finals, but they were loaded, man, top to bottom. But the one thing they didn't have is a half-court game… I said I'd be the final piece to the puzzle.”
What a blockbuster of a trade that would have been for Portland. As Charles Barkley shared above, the Blazers had just lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the previous year, and the addition of Barkley would have definitely beefed their squad up. Sure, Portland would have needed to part ways with a number of valuable assets in order to acquire Barkley, but in hindsight, maybe it would have been worth it.
Portland would have certainly kept Drexler on board, and pairing him with Barkley would have been quite a force to be reckoned with — one that could perhaps be worthy of toppling the mighty Bulls.
For the record, Barkley ended up winning the 1993 MVP title in his very first season with the Suns, so just imagine what it would have been like if he joined Drexler in Portland.
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