1v1: Charles Barkley Versus LeBron James

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Now wouldn’t this be something, huh? Arguably the two most physically and athletically gifted forwards of the last two decades, Charles Barkley and LeBron James, facing each other in a game of one-on-one. This topic had recently been brought to attention from this video,

that I found while looking for NBA 2K videos on YouTube. The aforementioned video really made me think and here’s who would win in a one-on-one between Sir Charles and The King:

Stat Comparison:





The stats suggest LeBron would easily win, but let’s not let the stats carry us away. In a one-on-one, career stats don’t matter that much. The player’s skill set matters much more.

Charles Barkley vs LeBron James:

Charles Barkley has been as unique a player the NBA has ever seen. Sir Charles defines the position, POWER forward. The most physically dominating player of the 90’s, which was pretty damn physical, Barkley dominated forwards that were 6’8″ and over, while being 6’4″. He could post up, attack the basket and even shoot threes. Against LeBron, Barkley would face one of the toughest challenges of his career.

LeBron James vs Charles Barkley:

LeBron James will definitely take advantage of the size difference to his greatest capabilities but even those wouldn’t be that much against Charles Barkley. Like Charles, LeBron is a dominating physical player who is a better shooter and as equally as good a finisher. LeBron is the better defender, but Charles Barkley’s physicality in a street-ball game would counter LBJ’s lock-down defense. However, LeBron James is too good not to do well so expect him to do his thing.

Game Details:

Up to 21

1 and 2’s

Street-ball rules

Game Result:

A one-on-one pickup game between Charles Barkley and LeBron James would be a close one; very close at that. I predict Sir Charles would win 21-20 in a nail-biter, mainly because of his physicality.

Comment below on who you think would win in a one-on-one pickup game between Charles Barkley and LeBron James and the score as well.