Awesome Story About How Charles Barkley Tried To "Eat His Way Out Of Philadelphia" Because He Thought His Rookie Contract Was Too Small

Source - Charles Barkley is arguably one of the best Philadelphia 76ers of all-time, but in a conversation with Jason and Travis Kelce on their New Heights podcast, the forward spoke about how he tried everything he could to not be drafted by the team.

“I was about 300 pounds in college, ” the Hall of Famer said. “The Sixers brought me in for a visit and the owner says ‘Hey everybody’s concerned about your weight.’ I think I had six weeks before the draft. He says ‘I want you to stop back here the day before the draft…we want you to weigh 285.’ So I get down to 285, and then my agent says to me ‘they have a hard cap in the NBA, so if you get drafted by the Sixers, you’re going to have to play your first year for $75,000.’”

Let me stop here for a second because I know what you're thinking. "$75,000 is a lot of money." Well, it's not. All things considered, for a guy like Charles Barkley who went from being a relatively unknown to a legitimate all-American averaging 15 and 10 per game...he knew his worth. Which in 1984 was much more than $75k a year. He also knew that he was being drafted next to guys like Michael Jordan and Akeem Olajuwon, both of whom had massive deals for the time. So yeah, I would be pissed too. I just don't know that eating my way out of the deal would've been top of mind. Here's what happened...

The forward had only a few days before the draft and to stop Philadelphia from drafting him he did the only thing he thought would work: eating. “We went to Denny’s in the morning, to get the Grand Slam breakfast and everything, all three days,” he recalled. “I stop in Philly, I weigh 298. I gained like all that weight. I told you, I was 283. I got like 299, right in there, and the owner called me every name in the book.”

And then it was draft night, 1984. Despite ownership being blindsided by Barkley’s eating binge, when Philadelphia was on the clock with the fifth overall pick they still drafted him – which led to pure shock for the forward.

“I tried to eat my way out of Philadelphia,” Barkley said. “True story.”

You can listen to Charles tell the story in his own words here...

And you know what the best part is? This is how he entered the league. He hadn't even played a minute yet and he was already acting like a lunatic. Which is why everyone love Charles Barkley. He is authentically himself 100% of the time. AND those antics ended up scoring him a $2 million, so jokes on the haters. That's all I have for this one. 

I was going to include a joke about how people eat their way into contracts here at Barstool Sports, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. Thanks for reading. Have a lovely Friday.