Charles Barkley Thinks His New Statue Is Too Skinny

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been that skinny.”

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Capturing an athlete’s essence in bronze is tough. Just ask the sculptors responsible for the notorious Cristiano Ronaldo and Brandi Chastain busts. So when the Sixers unveiled a new statue honoring Charles Barkley outside their practice facility on Friday, you couldn’t be blamed for holding your breath when the sheet came off. 

Luckily, the statue turned out great.

The #Barkley statue outside the @sixers’ practice facility is spot on down to the @nikebasketball Air Alpha Force II sneakers.#NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/JtvjwUeVWA

— Anthony Gilbert (@axgilbert) September 13, 2019

There’s just one problem: Chuck doesn’t think it looks too much like himself. He cracked after yanking off the sheet that the bronze Barkley was too skinny. 

"I don't know if I've ever been that skinny." 😂

The @sixers honored Chuck with a statue outside of their practice facility. 👏 pic.twitter.com/bV54Y3FMAb

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) September 13, 2019

Barkley was just fooling around, though, adding that he was actually quite impressed with the statue. 

Charles Barkley: "I got a statue at my college a couple of years ago, and my first response was 'What the fuck is that?" He then says the one added today in front of the 76ers training facility is amazing.

— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) September 13, 2019

He’s right. It is way better than the one Auburn gave him back in 2017.