The first time Charles Barkley met Dirk Nowitzki was also the first time he thought about how he could illegally recruit him to Auburn. Barkley recounted the story in the locker room during a celebrity softball game, which included several lines which might make the folks at AU cringe.
Barkley on his first interaction with Nowitzki:
Charles Barkley Tried To Illegally Recruit Dirk Nowitzki To Auburn
“I said, ‘where you going to play at?’ He said, ‘I have to go in the army.” I said, ‘you can’t go in the army playing like that.’ So I call Nike and I says, ‘find out about this kid and tell him I’ll give him anything he wants to go to Auburn. Just tell him, anything he wants, we’ll get it done.’”
On the illegal recruitment and the SEC:
“He would have fit right in in the SEC ... In the SEC, dude, we make sure you’re well taken care of.”
On the Cam Newton scandal:
“Everybody wants to give us a hard time about giving Cam Newton $200,000. That’s called a good damn investment.”
