Charles Barkley joined the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984 as the fifth overall pick in the draft. Having spent his first eight seasons in the league with the Sixers, the Hall of Famer himself admitted that in his mind, this was not one of the best stints of his decorated career. According to Barkley, a couple of trades in 1986 pretty much ruined his tenure with Philly.

Entering his third year with the squad, Barkley and the Sixers had high hopes, especially since they were in possession of the first overall pick in the 1986 draft. For some reason, however, Philadelphia opted to trade away that pick. To make matters worse, on that same day, the team also shipped off the late, great Moses Malone, who Barkley considered to be his mentor.

“[Philadelphia-based sports reporter Phil Jasner] says ‘well [Philly] traded the No. 1 pick to [the Cleveland Cavaliers] for Roy Hinson.’ I said, ‘What? That’s all we got for the No. 1 pick, was Roy Hinson?’” Barkley tells Zach Lowe on a recent appearance on “The Lowe Post Show” podcast. “And then he says, ‘Oh, and they traded Moses [Malone] to [the Washington Bullets].’”

Barkley has made it no secret how much Malone meant to him. Previously, Barkley even stated that Malone had the biggest influence in his career. This is exactly why Barkley was so gutted when he learned that the Sixers had traded away Malone. In Barkley's mind, he still had so much to learn from the veteran.

“Moses was gonna be a great mentor, because Moses was like a dad to me,” Barkley added.

“That was the beginning of the end, where I could have actually had a really good team.

“That wrecked my entire Philadelphia career. That was the biggest disaster of my career plain and simple.”

Barkley is not one to hold back, and he made sure to make his feelings known here. It's been over three decades since that trade went down, but it is clear that it is still something that Barkley regrets to this very day.