Charles Barkley and Charles Oakley were rebounding extraordinaires with similar names.
But they didn't much care for each other. Witness this preseason tussle between the two power forwards from 1996.
According to former NBA Player Chucky Brown, there was another notable physical altercation between Barkley and Oakley.
In an interview with the ">Jerseys & Dress Shirts podcast, Brown confirmed a notorious story about Oakley pimp slapping Barkley during a players union meeting.
We had a lockout in… 1999, so the players’ union decides to fly all the players up as a sign of solidarity that we together and all of that. So, I’m standing in the hallway talking to Dream [Hakeem Olajuwon], laughing with Dream about our days in Houston, and I look down the hallway and see Charles Barkley. Well, not down the hallway, Barkley was next to me talking to this white guy, I don’t even know who he was. Some lawyer or something, I don’t know. So, I look down the hall, I see Derrick Coleman, Anthony Mason – God bless his soul – and Charles Oakley. Back in the day, those were three of the guys you didn’t want to mess with. I see Oakley coming, I’m looking at Oakley, and it looks like he’s looking at me. Barkley is standing right over here. Oakley and I had gotten into something on the court, so I’m thinking, “Damn, I don’t want to fight this dude.” But if I gotta do it, I gotta do it, know what I’m saying? He walks past me, walks up to Charles Barkley, and he’s like, “What’s that sh*t you were saying?” Barkley just kind of looked at him, and Oakley open-hand slapped him.According to Brown, the sound of the slap echoed throughout the hallway. Yet Barkley did nothing in response.
Forget about Kenyon Martin vs Tim Thomas.
That's a heavyweight fight between ex-NBA players we'd like to see.