Subscribe
Follow Us
The 1992 Dream Team is easily the best basketball team ever assembled — we know, we made a list. A lot of stories have surfaced regarding how intense their practices got, and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley went into detail as to how the NBA superstars on the team wanted to “kill each other” during their practices.
Barkley recently guested on ESPN's “Get Up” program, and this is how he described the level of intensity during Dream Team practices:
“Well, it was a battle of egos. It was awesome, the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Barkley said, via Maitreyee Joshi of Essentially Sports.
“You had me and Karl Malone who were the best two power forwards in the world. We were trying to kill each other every day. You had Michael, who hated Clyde Drexler. They were trying to kill each other.
“You had David Robinson and Patrick Ewing, who were trying to prove who was the best center in the world. They were trying to kill each other. Then there was Magic, who was trying to prove that Scottie [Pippen] had just beat him in the Finals. He wanted to get revenge!”
The NBA superstars on the team may have seemed all friendly and nice during media appearances and in public, but as shared by Barkley above, it was a different thing once they got on the court for practice.
Barkley went on to explain how unique the experience was in terms of how they all left everything on the court:
“It was the most intense thing. It was like that every single day,” he added. “Guys were all trying to prove their point. It was amazing for two reasons. Number one, because we were all trying to kill each other. It was also amazing because once the game was over we got on the bus and went back to the hotel together. We act like nothing ever happened. That’s how cool it was.”
“The Last Dance” docuseries has been amazing thus far, and the Dream Team story is just one exciting aspect of the entire Michael Jordan narrative.
