Certainly one of the most colorful personalities in NBA history Charles Barkley parlayed his considerable basketball talents and a Hall of Fame career with his equally imposing rhetorical skills to a post-career entree into television. With nifty nicknames like "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound" Barkley established himself as one of the league's most dominant power forwards. Drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 5th pick of the 1984 NBA Draft. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team five times the All-NBA Second Team five times earned 11 NBA All-Star appearances and won two gold medals as a member of USA Basketball's first two Olympic "Dream Teams." In 2000 he retired as the fourth player in NBA history to achieve 20000 points 10000 rebounds and 4000 assists and was a first ballot Naismith Hall of Fame selection in 2006. This lot features Barkley's first ever pair of Nike signature model sneakers game-worn during the 1993-94 season his second with the Phoenix Suns. He averaged 21.6 points and 11.2 rebounds leading the Suns to a 56-26 record. They eventually lost to the Rockets in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Barkley's first signature model shoe the Nike Air Force Max 'CB' capitalized on the success of the Fab Five co-signed shoe by adding crisscrossed straps to the one-strap Air Max Force that Chuck sported the previous season (see Lot 298). The pair comes in Barkley's size 16 with a black white and purple (Suns-themed) leather and suede exterior and black. The heel tabs have Barkley's uniform number "34" embroidered. An ordinary "Nike Air" appears on the outer tongue and heal. The interior tagging is properly labeled "931012 FTPS" to denote the manufacturing date and player-issued status; these shoes were not available to the public. A purple elastic support section inside adds stability for the feet. The original black laces and orange Nike insoles are present. Sir Charles has autographed each shoe in 6-7/10 silver marker near the outer heel. They show excellent game use and are remarkably well-preserved with absolutely no cracking or crumbling of the midsole cushioning which so often happens over time with Nike pairs from that era.

Provenance: These monumental Barkley gamers come directly from the personal collection of Coby Karl (son of longtime NBA coach George Karl) who played in the NBA from 2007-10. He received all items from his collection either straight from the player or through his father.

LOA from Coby Karl. Pre-certified by PSA/DNA (auto).