in the history of the NBA. He always has some funny stories to tell and isn’t shy to give his very honest truth about everything that is happening in the league. Barkley is a legend in his own right as he started his career with the Philadelphia 76ers and eventually moved on to the Phoenix Suns.

During his stint with the 76ers, Barkley was looking to be traded and at one point, it seemed likely that he would be joining the Los Angeles Lakers. While appearing on The Lowe podcast, Barkley admitted that his agent told him a deal to L.A. had been finalized, only to fall through later that day. Barkley jumped the gun and started celebrating with some drinks before being told that he had to play with the 76ers that night. Needless to say, he played a game while drunk.

Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Julius Erving Golf Classic (PGD Global Event)

Per Barkley:

“My agent calls me one morning and he says ‘hey, you’re going to get traded to the Lakers today.’ And me and my friends, we go out and celebrate and get drunk around noon…. He calls me later and says ‘hey you’ve been traded to the Lakers, they’re going to finalize the deal and I’ll get back to you.’ I’m on cloud nine, he calls me back three hours later, it’s like 3:30 now, he says ‘the Sixers backed out of the deal.’ And I’m drunk as [bleeped expletive] and we got a game that night, and I’m like ‘what? What are you talking about?’ And he’s like ‘the Sixers were scared to pull the trigger.’ So I’m like ‘you’re kidding me, dude we got a game tonight and I’ve been drinking since noon.’ The one thing that’s funny, I don’t even know how I played that night. I think I might have played so bad because I was so angry the Sixers didn’t pull the trigger, and then it’s just suffering the next two or three years.”

This is easily one of the best stories Barkley has given us over the years and you really have to feel for the guy. Anybody would be celebrating that hard after a trade to the Lakers.

[Via]