Charles Barkley feels joining a Super Team to win an NBA title is not something his generation would have done.
Charles Barkley could have joined a Super Team with Michael Jordan if it was ok to do so in his playing days
When Charles Barkley used to play in the NBA, the concept of Super Teams was not something basketball fans were aware off. Most players stayed with the teams that drafted them or traded for them as long as possible. But now, winning an NBA title is difficult without the help of many star players.
The Boston Celtics for instance had a starting five comprising of All-Star caliber players. Without them, they would have struggled against a Dallas Mavericks who had two All-Stars. That forced the Mavericks to look for more help in the form of another star.
That philosophy was started by another iteration of the Celtics when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were traded in to form a super core with Paul Pierce. Since then, most teams who have won NBA titles have at least two superstars in their team.
It has also become commonplace for teams to seek out superstars via trade. So much so that players are willing to shift to another team, just to get another chance to compete. With loyalty seemingly out of the window, Charles Barkley feels strongly about this shift in how basketball is played.
I hate super teams, because you’re cheating. If they had told me back in my day, they were gonna hold it against me, I wanna play with Michael Jordan, or Bird or Magic.
Charles Barkley on The Mark Jackson Show
Charles Barkley believes people now judge the older generation by their inability to win NBA titles. But if it was fine back then to join a prime super team, he would have liked to join forces with players to win a title.
Charles Barkley did eventually join a Super Team
Charles Barkley eventually joined a Super Team when the Houston Rockets traded for him. At the time, the Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon as their franchise cornerstone and had traded for another superstar in Clyde Drexler the previous season.
However, all three were aging and struggling with injuries at the time. In their first season together, they reached the Western Conference Finals, only to be defeated by a Utah Jazz team that did not have the chemistry issues of the Rockets.
After two more seasons of playoff disappointments, Barkley had another chance at winning the title. Fresh after winning his sixth NBA title, Scottie Pippen joined the Houston Rockets in a monumental trade. But major chemistry problems between Barkley and Pippen led to a disastrous losing season. That was the end of the Super Team experience for the former league MVP.