There is no play in basketball that quite grabs the eyeballs and lives on in highlight reels for weeks like a poster dunk. The feeling of soaring above your opponent who tries to block your shot, only to find himself on the wrong end of a poster, is one of the most exhilarating experiences in the game. And Charles Barkley , one of the greatest power forwards to ever do it, knows that feeling all too well.
However, Barkley isn't shying away from the fact that sometimes, he was on the wrong side of it. In fact, he was never concerned about that part of the game, saying it comes with the competitive nature of the sport.
"Clearly, we would be watching a guy shooting two free throws. There is a 100% chance if you tried to dunk on me, that I would knock the hell out of you. Like, in my day, you could actually do that, now you get suspended for a week," Barkley answered when asked which guy would he pick to dunk over him.
"You have to check your ego at the door when you are playing sports. I've been dunked on many times. If you play sports, you are going to get embarrassed. Your job is to go back and embarrass them," he added. "Michael Jordan's dunked on me before. Alonzo Mourning… Shaq's dunked on me before… When you play sports. Somebody's gonna get you."
At the highest level of basketball, egos come into play constantly. Guys are trying to one-up each other while also protecting their own ground, and when you add that competitive fire into the mix, you get plenty of heated moments. Still, as Barkley mentioned, even he — someone who delivered his fair share of Kodak moments himself — got caught on the wrong end of it from time to time.
One of the most memorable examples came at the hands of his friend and rival, Michael Jordan . For many, MJ is the greatest to ever lace them up, and when he met Barkley at the rim, Chuck didn't stand a chance. Not only did Jordan dunk on him, but the force of the finish threw him to the floor, leaving him with nothing else to do but get up, walk to the other end, and try to leave it in a rearview mirror. Barkley's ability to just shrug it off and basically go with the next play shows maturity in those kinds of situations.
It's no secret that the game back then was played under a different set of rules when it came to physicality. Driving into the paint meant bracing for contact, because nine times out of ten, you were going to get hit. Players from that era know it better than anyone. That's part of the reason Vince Carter , one of the greatest dunkers ever, often points out why there's been a decline in true poster dunks in today's NBA . Sure, guys like Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant still hunt for "murders" at the rim any time they step on the hardwood, but according to Air Canada, it's just not the same.
And that's exactly what Barkley was getting at. In his day, if you tried to dunk on him, you'd feel it. But at the same time, he embraced the reality that even the toughest defenders will eventually be put on a poster. For Chuck, it was perfectly normal, and the crucial thing was how a player responds to it.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
