Charles Barkley Cries Out in Disbelief Unaware of 7ft 1 Shaquille O’Neal’s Humbling Truth

Published 04/24/2024, 8:21 PM EDT

Shaquille O’Neal took the honor of presenting the 2023-24 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year, one of the most-awaited announcements, due to the tight competition between its final candidates. The Minnesota Timberwolves can finally boast that they have a 6MOTY winner because Naz Reid is the only player in the franchise to win this honor. However, the most surprising part wasn’t Reid winning the 6MOTY, but an unknown truth about Shaq’s off-the-bench stat, which stunned Charles Barkley.

Before Shaq announced the award on live TV, co-host Ernie Johnson shared on Inside the NBA, “Shaquille O’Neal, a guy who came off the bench in 10 games in his career,”. Even before Johnson could finish, Barkley chimed in and screamed, “You came off the bench?! He came off the bench?!” Shaq was a 7’1 giant in his entry into the league. Even during his rookie season with the Orlando Magic, Shaq played all 81 games as a starter.

A young Shaq came off the bench for the first time in his third season in the NBA. He played only one game as a sixth man in 1995, in which he scored 26 points, and 11 rebounds in just 24 minutes. He has come off the bench, twice for the Magic, five times for the Los Angeles Lakers, twice for the Miami Heat, and once for the Boston Celtics. Out of this, his best display was against the Warriors in 1998, where he dropped 33 points and 10 rebounds in just 33 minutes, for the Lakers. So it’s only fair that Shaq announced the 6MOTY!

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At the same time, Charles Barkley is also not new to coming off the bench. In fact, his stats are even more surprising than Shaq’s.

How good was Charles Barkley off the bench?

Charles Barkley spent quite some time as a sixth man during his rookie year for the Philadelphia 76ers. In the 82 games he played in 1985, Barkley came off the bench 22 times. His excellent rebounding and offensive brilliance helped him become a starter in the upcoming years. Regardless, he has come off the bench in 61 games in his career, a lot more than Shaq did.

What’s for sure is that, Barkley was more efficient as a bench player. He averaged 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting an impressive 51% from the field. The Chuckster has come off the bench most for the Houston Rockets, where he played the last three seasons of his career. So it’s safe to say Barkley was a great player from the bench too!

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Written by:

Rohan Dharmalingam is an NBA beat writer at EssentiallySports, who extensively covers the Lakers. Be it a multimillion dollar deal breaking or a classic throwback, Rohan has covered the many themes and formats. Most notably, his coverage received a shoutout from the Purple & Gold icon Shaquille O'Neal and the rap legend 50 Cent, on Instagram.

Edited by:

Jayant Chhabra

Charles Barkley Cries Out in Disbelief Unaware of 7ft 1 Shaquille O’Neal’s Humbling Truth

How good was Charles Barkley off the bench?

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