Former NBA player Jayson Williams shares a hilarious story about being teammates with Charles Barkley: "In 2 years he practiced twice"
Former NBA player Jayson Williams shares a hilarious story of hanging out with Charles Barkley when they played for the Philadelphia 76ers, describing him as a bad influence on him and his career.
Barkley was his favorite teammate
Jayson Williams's name isn't so well known to younger NBA fans, but he played in the NBA for nine years. He was mostly known for his antics off the floor rather than on-court performances. Williams did have a couple of productive seasons for the New Jersey Nets before his career-ending injury in 1999. During his time in the league, he collected several great stories playing with different teammates. However, none is better than his stories while playing for the Philadelphia 76ers when they still had Charles Barkley on the squad.
In an interview for VladTV, Williams talked about Charles Barkley and how he was by far his favorite teammate. Barkley barely practiced while at the same time talking trash to other teammates on how they are not putting enough effort into practicing. Williams also said Barkley took him under his wing, which was a lot of fun but did not influence him to become a great basketball player.
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"I played with one of my most favorite people in this whole world, Charles Barkley. Charles Barkley took me under his wing, which I wish he didn't. I remember going to my first practice with Charles Barkley, who didn't practice, who never practiced. In 2 years, he practiced twice. He used to come in and get on the stationary bike riding going one mile per hour. He would take McDonald's and pot cake with sausage, and butter with syrup and put it in a tortilla. He would squash it and eat it while yelling, "Yo run the floor" while pedaling one mile per hour. He would just sit on the side, yelling, "this is why we'll never be s**t" cause you guys don't run the floor. After practice, he asked me if I want to go to a bar, and I had all this free time on my hand, so I hang out with Charles, and they had to get rid of both of us in Philadelphia."
Jayson Williams, via VladTV
Despite being one of the NBA's best players for over a decade, Barkley was never known around the league as a hard worker. He relied on his talent, and of course, he worked on his game but maybe not like some other greats in the game. In the later stage of his career, the lack of dedication caused him to become overweight, but he could still do what he does best, score points and rebound the ball.
