Chicago Bulls: 4 stars that had their title hopes ruined by Michael Jordan

Stars that had title hopes ruined by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls: Charles Barkley

In the sole NBA Finals appearance for the Hall-of-Fame forward and an all-time great former Auburn Tiger in Charles Barkley with the Suns, the Bulls got the best of a very talented team from out west. Barkley wasn’t the only star on that Suns team that tried to give the utmost challenge to the likes of Jordan, Hall-of-Fame forward Scottie Pippen, and the Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals.

The Suns boasted other stars on that squad such as shooting guard/small forward Dan Majerle, point guard Kevin Johnson, and combo guard Danny Ainge (granted Ainge was in the latter stages of his career at that point). Between the three of them, Barkley, Majerle, and Johnson had 19 career All-Star selections. But none of these three ever got a ring, somehow.

Majerle even talked about how he still often thinks about this loss in the NBA Finals to Jordan and the Bulls on a weekly basis, nearly three decades later.

But it was namely Barkley that was the headliner in missing out on a title in this 1993 NBA Finals run for the Suns. The lone MVP honors of his career came during the 1992-93 season, much to the dismay of Jordan and the Bulls. That looked to be something that really stuck with Jordan through the NBA Finals, considering how much he dominated the Suns in this six-game series.

Jordan would wind up with four games where he had at least 40 points and one game with more than 50 points in this NBA Finals triumph over Barkley and the Suns. It was one of the better NBA Finals performances of his career, and he would eliminate Barkley before the “Round Mound of Rebound” could get the first ring of his days in the league.