“You are going to pay a price,” Charles Oakley said when asked why Larry Bird never spoke to him again.
During his NBA career, Charles Oakley was not the finest player on the court, but he could have been the most explosive. On defense, Oakley never shied away from stirring up trouble, which helped him earn two choices to the All-Defensive team and establish himself as one of the finest defenders of his generation.
Among the many outstanding players Oakley faced up against was the legendary Boston Celtics player Larry Bird, who was also well-known for his trash-talking. However, Oakley claims that Bird did not often make jokes about him.
By now, everyone is aware of Bird’s reputation as one of the best trash talkers in NBA history. There are countless tales about Larry’s illustrious career, from his boldly picking confrontations with anyone who irritated him to his cocky declarations to his opponents that he would hit a shot over them.
Although Oakley is aware of the existence of all these tales, he maintains that Bird withheld information from him throughout their meetings, which he interprets as Bird’s knowledge of the consequences of meddling with Oakley.
“Larry Bird was just an easygoing guy.” Every time you visit the Boston Garden early, he is there practicing his shot. While making an interview on Showtime With Coop, Oakley stated, “Larry was a wonderful man. He never said too much to me because they knew if you talk to me you going to pay a toll.”
Bird refrained from berating Oak, demonstrating that even the most ferocious trash-talkers had players he would not want to do business with. Since the Celtics legend frightened him during one of their earliest meetings, Michael Jordan does not fit into that category.