Charles Oakley - The Last Enforcer: Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBAs Fiercest Competitors

The Last Enforcer

Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBAs Fiercest Competitors

Charles Oakley with Frank Isola

Foreword by Michael Jordan

Gallery Books

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Copyright 2022 by Charles Oakley

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First Gallery Books hardcover edition February 2022

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Interior design by Michelle Marchese

Jacket design by Jason Gabbert

Jacket photograph by Getty Images

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Oakley, Charles, 1963 author. | Isola, Frank, author.

Title: The last enforcer : outrageous stories from the life and times of one of the NBAs fiercest competitors / Charles Oakley with Frank Isola.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021035847 (print) | LCCN 2021035848 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982175641 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781982175665 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Oakley, Charles, 1963. | African American basketball PlayersBiography. | Basketball playersUnited StatesBiography. | BasketballSocial aspectsUnited States.

Classification: LCC GV884.O22 A3 2022 (print) | LCC GV884.O22 (ebook) | DDC 796.323092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021035847

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021035848

ISBN 978-1-9821-7564-1

ISBN 978-1-9821-7566-5 (ebook)

To my grandfather Julius Moss, who believed in hard work, and being a man of your word

I t doesnt matter who you are or how confident a person you are: when youre going into a tough situation, it always helps to have some protection, to have someone you can count on by your side, to have your back. For me, in the game of basketball, that was Charles Oakley. He truly was my enforcer.

Oak came to the Chicago Bulls as a rookie in 1985 and almost immediately announced his presence. In training camp, you could tell right away that he had what it took to make it in the NBA. I broke my foot three games into the season and didnt get to play with Charles much at first. But as I sat on the bench in street clothes, I watched. And I liked what I saw. The league was a lot more physical back then, and Oak was perfectly suited for it. He was a hard worker, smart, competitive, and no matter the situation or who he was up against, he was not going to back down. Simply putyou did not mess with Oak.

I knew that when I returned to the court, Id have a bodyguard. I had become a target for other teams, and Oak wasnt afraid to mix it up with players who came after me who might have been bigger than him, but definitely werent tougher. I truly appreciated his willingness to take on that protective role, and we quickly became close friends.

For all his grit and physicality, though, Oak was also a great playerfar from one-dimensional. He could score, rebound, and pass, in addition to throwing that well-timed elbow or punch when he felt it was necessary.

Its no secret that I was not happy when Charles was traded to the Knicks in 1988. Because when someone you trust has your back, you dont want that someone playing for your opponent. But I wasnt just going to miss Oak on the court, I was also going to miss seeing and being around my friend every day.

The Bulls met the Knicks in the NBA playoffs five times between 1989 and 1996, and our rivalry was among the fiercest in league history. Getting past Oak, Patrick Ewing, and the rest of the Knicks was never easy. In 1992, they took us to Game 7 for one of only two times during our two championship runs. The stakes could not have been higher, and the intensity was off the charts. I knew what we were up against and knew that Oak, in particular, wasnt going to just lie down for us, friends or not. This was old-school basketball, with each team pushing the other to its limits.

Oak and I briefly reunited as teammates on the Washington Wizards during my last season. And I hired Oak as an assistant coach for my thenCharlotte Bobcats team in 2010 because I knew our players would benefit from his experience, his competitive nature, and his legendary toughness.

Has Oak changed over the years? Well, Im not sure I would have predicted hed ever compete on a show like Dancing with the Stars or become such a great cook. The man is a master behind the grill, but believe me, he definitely makes a mess. But Oak is still Oak. He still doesnt back down, and you cant intimidate him. Hes uniquely himself. Its been a long time since we shared a basketball court, but if I should find myself in a tough situation, there is no doubt who I would want by my side as my enforcer.

I did not punch Charles Barkley.

Do you need me to repeat that? I will if it means people will stop spreading lies about me. Enough is enough. Im going to set the record straight because for more than twenty years, that rumorthe one of me allegedly punching Barkley before an important NBA Players Association meeting in 1999has been told over and over, to the point that its become something of an urban legend. But the story is false. So for the last time, I did not punch Charles Barkley.

I did, however, slap the shit out of him.

Barkley had it coming to him. He was talking a lot of shit about me. Thats what he does. He talks too much. So I did what I do. Mention my name to Barkley today and hell still go the other way.

You get hit with a lot of words in the league. You get hit with a lot of elbows, forearms, shoulders, and occasionally fists, too. You dont have to hit first, you just have to make sure you get in the best shot. And I got Barkley pretty good.

I was a power forward in the NBA for nearly two decades with the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Houston Rockets, and I had plenty of run-ins over those years. I played in the golden era of physical play, the 1980s and 90s, and combat was part of my job description. According to the record books, I had almost as many rebounds (12,205) as points (12,417), which tells you what my role was on every team. Thats a lot of work in the paint, and thats where things tend to get nasty. Theres one more telling statistic: I rank fourth all time for personal fouls (4,421), just behind Robert Parish, Karl Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Id like to think that most of the fouls were worth it. A lot were used to prevent a dunk or a layup. In New York, Pat Riley got credit for saying we had a no layup rule.

I played by that rule my whole life.

In addition to Barkley, I mixed it up with Xavier McDaniel, Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer, Alonzo Mourning, and even Larry Johnson, who later became my teammate with the New York Knicks. When you really think about it, thats not so many fights over the course of nineteen seasons. Most of the violence in the eighties and nineties NBA was controlled, and contrary to popular belief, I didnt fight all the time. I fought when I needed to. I fought when it mattered. Was I a physical player? Absolutely. Dirty? No. But if you fucked with me or one of my teammates, I wasnt going to back down. Never. Ive been that way my entire life, and Ill be that way until the day I die.