Aaron Hope 
Charles Barkley’s final days as a Houston Rocket weren’t just ring chasing behind Clyde and the Dream; Sir Charles averaged double-doubles in each of his four seasons in H-Town, just as he had each year with Philly (*except ’84-85’s rookie campaign) and Phoenix. An older and rounder Mound of Rebound saw his scoring numbers drop in one of the failed (by Larry O’Brien standards) ‘Big Three’ experiments, and with Charles no longer the undisputed alpha dog he’d been for the Sixers and Suns, his Nike Basketball signature series followed a similar trajectory.
One can’t help but wonder what might have happened had PHX won the 1993 Finals, especially when seeing this colorway somewhere between their own and that year’s Air Jordan VIII ‘Aqua’ appears on the new Foamposite-equipped Nike CB34 Foamposite Max. It’s an anachronistic hybrid design based on the Air Max2 CB ’94 whose ‘Not a Role Model’ traction insets make you realize how substantial a shift could have occurred, and how both Barkley and Mr. Foamposite himself, Penny Hardaway were both so close to titles during the MJ years. Stick with Senaker News for updates on this glow-in-the-dark-soled Barkley Posite Max and check out new photos below in the meantime.
