When did Sir Charles feel like he peaked? It wasn’t when he was the 5th overall pick of the 1984 draft, not when he was the 1991 All-Star Game MVP, nor the 1993 regular season MVP. It wasn’t even when he retired from a celebrated career in 2000. The realization came in 2014, well into his second act as a media personality. Charles Barkley interviewed then-president Barack Obama in the White House. The image of both of them in the Oval Office remains iconic for obvious reasons.

In a special breaking down their CNN show, King Charles, Chuck asked Gayle King what was the moment she felt success. The seasoned interviewer repeated the same question to Barkley. He took it back to the day cameras filmed his meeting with Obama and added a lesser-known fact about that encounter. “I was at the White House, to interview President Obama. So he says to me ‘Chuck you’ve ever been to the Oval Office?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I’ve been there many times.’ Which I had never been, obviously.” 

Lying to the POTUS? Is that legal? But perhaps the basketball-loving Obama already knew that Barkley, without an NBA championship in his career, had not visited the White House as a player. Thankfully, Chuck did make it to the White House post retirement.

In the most unorthodox of moves by NBA media, TNT sent The Round Mound of Rebound to interview President Obama as part of the pre-game coverage of the NBA All-Star Game. Barkley was no Gayle King but he’s outspoken. Besides basketball, they talked healthcare and various reforms.

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Chuck even asked who he thought was the GOAT between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Spoiler: the “Chicago Guy” picked His Airness.

Charles Barkley’s immense admiration for Barack Obama

While Barkley admitted many times in the past decade he was starstruck by Obama, he told King it was the image of himself and the POTUS in the Oval Office that became memorable for him.

Chuck not only has that photograph displayed in his home, “I have friends from all over the country texting me like, ‘Yo man, I’m really proud of you.’ I said, ‘What you talkin’ about.’ He says, ‘Dude, there’s a picture of you and President Obama standing in the Oval Office.'”

Barkley, who once said he wanted to play golf with Obama, didn’t know they had taken that picture till his friends sent it to him. His friend told him, “Number one, obviously, it’s the President. It’s the Black President. And me from a small town in Alabama, and I was like, ‘That’s pretty incredible, you’re right.'” 

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He didn’t say if he hoped to have Obama on King Charles but he’s expressed his wish to interview him once more. What do you think of this starstruck Chuck?