Shaquille O’Neal has now proved that Charles Barkley is a fibber, and he was assisted by the Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius Erving in achieving this task. It’s safe to say the Los Angeles Lakers icon has a pretty strong memory. In his newly released podcast episode, Erving joined the show, and this was the perfect opportunity for Shaq to expose his TNT buddy. Well, to get this done, Shaq had to recall one of Barkley’s lies from 1984, when the latter joined the 76ers. 

Shaq did not beat around the bush. He straight up questioned, “You know Charles is a big fibber. He told us that… when he got there, he said, ‘I went up to Dr. J and said this is my team’. Is that true or not?” Erving denied it within a fraction of seconds, “Hey, he never said that…He called me Mr. Erving”. 

Barkley’s first three years with the Sixers were Erving’s last in the NBA. It was the time around when Erving was looking for someone to replace him and Barkley was ultimately chosen as the next leader. However, Dr. J did confirm that Barkley was not made the successor in his rookie year. It was only in his third year in the NBA when Erving bid farewell to the game.

The 3-time champion shared in the podcast, “I always welcome rookies in with open arms, you know, feel comfortable…but Charles didn’t come in and take over…We got guys who are Hall of Famers just like him, who were there before him…you know that third year was when he arrived as ‘Sir Charles’.” Barkley has to be more cautious of his lies hereafter! 

Dr. J believes Charles Barkley was the start of the modern NBA

Although the 4-time MVP did not hesitate to expose Barkley, he has never missed a chance to give the 60-year-old his flowers. The respect has been mutual, in fact. Barkley speaks highly of Erving for shaping his career in the early stages. But Erving had a higher praise for the 11-x All-Star. 

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Erving shared in a previous interview, “Charles is the guy who really, ushered in the modern era of basketball. He was the guy who came in and teams really had to adjust what they were doing to accommodate his talent. And he came into a championship team.” The two needed each other and it happened at the right time for the both of them at the Sixers.

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 That’s a story we don’t see too often! What are your thoughts about this? Share your take in the comments below.