Charles Barkley recalls offering to pay Dirk Nowitzki to sign with Auburn out of Germany

Charles Barkley is not shy about his love for Auburn basketball. The Hall of Famer tried to put his money where his heart is with fellow Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki.

When Barkley was a member of the Dream Team in 1992, he came across Nowitzki, who was playing in Germany at the time. Barkley did his best to convince Nowitzki to come to Auburn.

“I met Dirk Nowitzki and tried to pay him to come to Auburn. We played an exhibition in Germany, and I’ve got Scottie Pippen, who is a great defender, I’ve got Horace Grant. A couple of other NBA players, and we played this German team,” Charles Barkley told The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday. “Dirk’s got like 35 at halftime. And at this time Scottie was considered a great defender. This dude finished with like 52 points.”

Barkley went up after the game and made his pitch to the then teenager.

“I said, ‘Yo man, who are you?’ He said, ‘My name is Dirk Nowitzki.’ I said, ‘Do you wanna go to Auburn? I’ll take care of that,’” Barkley recalled. “He says, ‘I gotta go in the Army.’ I said, ‘Dude, you’re 7 feet tall. You’re not going in the damn Army.'”

Dirk Nowitzki didn’t go to Auburn, but he did go on to become one of the greatest basketball players of all-time.

The former Dallas Mavericks star finished his career as a 14-time all-star. He was named All-NBA 12 times, including first-team All-NBA on four separate occasions.

Nowitzki led the Mavericks to the 2011 NBA title, winning Finals MVP that season. He ranks sixth all-time in points in NBA history.

Needless to say, Barkley was right about what Nowitzki had the potential to be.

“This is true. This is in the middle of the summer,” Barkley said of trying to convince Nowitzki to come to Auburn. “We’re playing Nike exhibitions in Germany. … He ended up with the Mavs. It was beautiful to watch him play, and he’s such a good dude. But man, it was crazy.”

While Nowitzki impressed in 1992, it was the Dream Team that was arguably the most dominant basketball team of all-time.

The roster included Barkley, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Team USA easily won the gold medal without really being challenged.

In the gold medal game, Team USA earned a 117-85 win over Croatia. Despite the final game being so lopsided, the 32-point margin was still the closest of the Olympic games.