The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 628 - 24 Best Friend_2

Before Barkley’s good brother Rick Mahorn was also traded to the Pistons in exchange for Donaldson.

During the playoffs, Barkley ran into trouble again—this time with his younger brother, Darryl Barkley.

Out of jealousy, Darryl grew increasingly dissatisfied with his brother’s success, and he even refused to watch his brother’s games on TV.

He told reporters that he was born with congenital heart hypertrophy, so he couldn’t have the athletic ability that Charles had; otherwise, he would have been a basketball star too.

Darryl dropped out of high school, attended a vocational school for a year, and then hit a wall trying to find work; he started using drugs to numb himself.

In May 1989, Darryl Barkley was arrested by the police for trafficking cocaine.

Barkley’s mother and grandmother demanded that Darryl get tested, and if he tested positive for banned substances, they would kick him out of the house.

The result was obvious; Darryl had been using cocaine since 1988, the same time Charles Barkley had made it to the Finals, and all of America was talking about Charles Barkley’s name.

At the time of Darryl’s arrest, the Washington Bullets had just been eliminated by the New York Knicks, but everyone’s attention wasn’t on the game, it was all on the arrest of Barkley’s brother.

Helicopters hovered near Barkley’s home, a large number of TV broadcast vans lay in ambush nearby, and TV stations across the country were reporting on the incident.

And worse was yet to come—after spending five months in rehab, Darryl Barkley suffered a stroke just as he was about to be released.

Doctors found a blood clot on the right side of his brain; the reason for his stroke was the congenital heart hypertrophy that prevented quick blood pumping to his brain.

Before the 1989-90 season started, Charles Barkley left training camp to visit his brother in a Birmingham hospital.

At only 22 years old, Darryl Barkley was paralyzed from the stroke, unable to move or speak, in an incoherent state.

Barkley was filled with guilt; he felt pain and confusion, but this time he knew he had to be strong because as Darryl was being arrested, his daughter Christiana Barkley was born.

This was, apart from making it to the Finals, the happiest event for Barkley in the last two years.

He had met his wife, Maureen, in a bar in 1987, and afterward, Barkley pursued this model.

After a stable period of dating, they got married, had a daughter, and started a happy family of three—a concept very foreign to Barkley.

This was because Barkley had no such experience in his childhood; he was raised by his mother and grandmother in an incomplete family that lacked a father figure.

Now that he was about to become a father himself, he was very anxious and unfamiliar with the role.

At this time, Gan Guoyang, who had become a father a few months earlier than him, became Barkley’s best confidant.

Sometimes, when getting up in the middle of the night to feed the child to the point of a mental breakdown, he would call Ah Gan.

As it turned out, Gan Guoyang’s mother was also feeding her child; this would make Barkley feel a lot better, and they would exchange experiences over the phone.

When Barkley encountered problems, he would consult Gan Guoyang, and if Gan Guoyang didn’t know, he would call Stockton, who had more experience.

With Gan Guoyang’s help and company, Barkley overcame the most tumultuous two years of his life, learning a lot from Gan Guoyang.

Barkley’s mindset became more stable; he realized that life wasn’t just about basketball. He yearned for a beautiful marriage, wanted to have a large family, to build something eternal rather than fleeting happiness.

In this process, Barkley and Gan Guoyang’s friendship naturally became stronger.

After the 1989-1990 season began, the Washington Bullets performed quite well.

The Bullets and the Trail Blazers were so far the only two undefeated teams.

Moreover, the Bullets’ undefeated record was quite solid; on November 4th, they narrowly beat the defending champion Detroit Pistons by 2 points at home.

Charles Barkley scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, the key player in the team’s victory.

After the game, Charles Barkley had a ball boy deliver a note to Bill Laimbeer, on which was written a poem:

"Dear Bill,

Fuck you.

Love you.

Charles Barkley."

This was one of the greatest poems passed down by Barkley.

Then on the 7th and 8th, in back-to-back home and away games, the Bullets consecutively defeated the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics, with Barkley continuing to perform brilliantly.

On the 10th, the Bullets team moved the home game to their former main city, Baltimore, where they played a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Baltimore Sports Arena.

Barkley scored another 31 points, leading the team to beat the Cavaliers and achieve a 5-game winning streak.

On the 12th, two teams on a five-game winning streak met in Portland.

Before the game started, Gan Guoyang defeated Charles Barkley in the voting, receiving the first Player of the Week of the new season.

Barkley felt discontented and as retribution, he took two boxes of milk powder from Gan Guoyang’s house back to Washington.

The Washington Bullets of the 89-90 season had seen some significant changes compared to ’88.

Dick Motta had left the position of assistant coach; he was not content with just being an assistant and wanted to shine as a head coach.

Wes Unseld continued as the head coach of the team.

Moses Malone was replaced by James Donaldson, and Barkley became the absolute core of the team.