Charles Barkley tells an amazing story of the time he went and got drunk one afternoon after learning that he’d been finally traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the L.A. Lakers.
I got traded to the Lakers one day [in 1992] and they retracted the deal.
No way.
Yeah. The Sixers backed out. It was going crazy for two weeks so I knew it would come down to Portland, [the] Lakers or Phoenix. So I get a call from my agent one morning and he said, “Philly has traded you to the Lakers.” So I went to lunch and started drinking. I’m f—ing so excited that I am going to the Lakers. Three hours later I get a f—ing phone call from my agent saying that the Sixers backed out of the deal. I said, “Oh, s–t, I’m feeling pretty good right now.” So I went out and played that night.
Barkley says he played pretty well that night in spite of his lunch binder.