Throughout the course of NBA history, we’ve witnessed countless great players retire without being able to win a ring.
Many of those great players who retire ringless have one guy to blame and one guy only, and that’s Michael Jordan.
Nobody else in the league won when he was in his heyday, outside of Hakeem Olajuwon, who made the most of his brief retirement.
Notably, that long list of ringless legends features two guys who were pretty close to being teammates, as recently, Reggie Miller revealed that he thought he was going to join Charles Barkley on the Philadelphia 76ers, but the Indiana Pacers eventually got him earlier in the NBA Draft (via Landon Buford).
Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley we’re almost teammates on the @sixers, says Miller:
“In fact it it was told me that it was going to happen in 1987 when I was visiting teams. I can’t remember the owner or Gm [Sixers] at time, but they were like we’re… pic.twitter.com/MfEzu0lU0a
— Landon Buford (@LandonBuford) August 27, 2023
Miller and Barkley were both victims of Jordan on their own, but maybe together, things could have gone differently.
Perhaps Barkley would’ve never been traded to the Phoenix Suns, and maybe Jordan wouldn’t have won six rings in that eight-year span.
Miller went on to spend his entire career with the Pacers, becoming the greatest player in franchise history and one of the greatest shooters of all time.
Barkley became better and was even named MVP and considered one of the best power forwards ever.
And while he did team up with some big names toward the final passage of his career, he was never able to go back to the NBA Finals.
How far could’ve they gone if they had been together in the earlier stages of their careers?
Fortunately for Jordan, we’ll never know.
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