clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

A Great Krzyzewski Story From Charles Barkley

Moral: don’t let people get to your mini bar when you’re not around

2010 Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend
SPRINGFIELD, MA - AUGUST 13: Members of the 1992 USA Olympic Dream Team: (L to R) Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Earvin Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Christian Laettner, Chris Mullin, Karl Malone, Lenny Wilkens, P.J. Carlesimo and Mike Krzyzewski poses for a photo during the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2010 Induction Ceremony at the Symphony Hall on August 13, 2010 in Springfield, Massachusetts. 
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Charles Barkley is, reliably, a great raconteur and bon vivant. So it’s no surprise that he has a good story to tell about the Krzyzewski clan during the 1992 Olympics.

Coach K, as you’ll recall, was an assistant to Chuck Daly on the Dream Team. Keep in mind this was 12 years after he started at Duke. He had made the Final Four in 1986, and 1988-92 and had won back-to-back championships. He had made a name for himself, in other words.

Certainly Barkley took him seriously.

Nonetheless, when one of Coach K’s daughters asked Barkley if she could have a “couple of beers” out of his mini bar, he said sure...only to realize later that she had cleaned it out completely and presumably had a pretty good time with however much she ultimately drank.

For his part, Barkley was petrified and made it a point to stay away from Coach K in practice the next day.

But it wasn’t a problem - for Barkley, anyway. Coach K said it was his daughter’s fault and he didn’t hold Barkley responsible.

It’s funny to imagine the conversation he had with his child later, but it’s even funnier to imagine big bad Charles Barkley terrified of Mike Krzyzewski.