Charles Barkley Admits Getting Rid of Career Mementos Only for 1 Reason

Charles Barkley spent the offseason ripping into everyone involved in the NBA media rights saga and gold. The latter was more fun as he joined other celebrities in the American Century Championship. He’s participated in the celebrity golf tournament for three decades, despite his terrible swing, and had his best finish in 2024. The 58th rank for -4 points doesn’t look so great, but considering he’s usually in the bottom end of the nineties, this is a phenomenal improvement. Chuck deserves a Most Improved trophy too, if he cared about trophies at all. He re-affirmed his longstanding Marie Kondo-like policy to Jim Stevens at Lake Tahoe.

After the golf tournament, Barkley stopped by The Jim on Base Show where he was asked, “Do you keep any mementos or anything that you kind of look back on?” The short answer is no, Chuck doesn’t. His reasoning is very deep too. “I don’t keep anything. ‘Cuz you got to keep moving forward. Cuz every time you accomplish something, there’s something more to accomplish.” Valid explanation to live by.

He does keep the important stuff though. “I think I got my MVP trophy, and I got my two gold medals, the rest of that stuff, I have no idea.” He doesn’t specify if he means the 1991 All-Star MVP trophy or the 1993 MVP trophy. He had won two gold medals at the ’92 and ’96 Olympics. He doesn’t mention if he hangs on to the four Sports Emmy Awards he’s won for Inside the NBA too.

He sounds a tad flippant too. Barkley’s apparently the type to not display the trophies he does have. He even gave up what we’d consider precious memorabilia for a good cause.

Charles Barkley nearly got rid of his MVP trophy

In 2020, when Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up made de-cluttering fashionable, Charles Barkley did something unusual to spark joy. He put up his ’93 MVP trophy and an Olympic gold medal for sale to use the proceeds to build affordable housing in Leeds, Alabama. Where most NBA stars couldn’t think of it, Barkley was happy to let go of these things.

“That stuff’s not that important to me. I’ve had an unbelievable life.” He said that stuff, including several items autographed by the Dream Team, was ‘cluttering’ his grandmother’s house. His daughter, Christiana, hung on to his ’92 gold medal but called the rest of his stuff an “eyesore” that’s better off being used to build affordable housing.

It’s unclear what happened to his plans. He’s saying now that he still has the MVP trophy and gold medals. Perhaps, he only sold the Dream Team memorabilia or he changed plans. What hasn’t changed is Barkley’s stance on mementos.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us in the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.