If you believe Jayson Williams, Charles Barkley spent more time eating junk food than he did practicing during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Williams, who spent the first two years of his career with Barkley in Philly, recently told a hilarious story about Barkley while appearing on VICE Sports’ “Cookies” podcast. By Williams’ count, Barkley actually practiced roughly three times total during the two years the pair were teammates. On one particular day, Williams recalls Barkley stuffing his face with McDonald’s breakfast while yelling at other people to run harder.
“I’ll never forget this story. My second day of practice we’re out there running up and down. Charles Barkley comes in about 5-minutes late,” Williams said, as transcribed by Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead. “He comes in and he has a big McDonald’s bag. And he goes and he sits down on the bike. And like a chemist. You know a guy over there cutting up lines or something. You know? He’s just making – he’s got his back towards us and he’s doing stuff – I’m like what the hell is he doing? So he takes the eggs, and he takes the pancakes, the sausage, maple syrup and butter, puts it all in one, wraps it up with the pancake and gets some extra syrup. And the butter’s oozing out. And I’m going wow, you going to eat that then and come run with us?
“Hell no. He’s going to eat that while he’s on the stationary bike. Peddling one mile an hour going, ‘You sons of bitches! Run the floor! You lazy bastards! You f—ers! That’s why we ain’t never going to win the game!’ And pancake is spitting out his mouth.”
Williams claims that type of behavior was common from Sir Charles. In fact, he says Barkley was the “worst person to play with as a rookie” because he was a horrible influence and got people to stay out all night partying with him. He also said something that will likely irritate Barkley.
“You knew he wasn’t going to win the championship,” Williams said.
Interestingly enough, Barkley once admitted that he tried to discourage the Sixers from drafting him by going on an eating binge, the alarming details of which you can read here. It sounds like he was still working at that goal years after arriving in Philly.
