Charles Barkley said he would rather win the Masters than an NBA championship because of the food selections

• Charles Barkley is often taunted because he never won a championship during his NBA career.
• Barkley has taken up golf since retiring from the NBA and is heavily involved in the sport.
• Barkley would rather win the Masters than an NBA title so he could pick the Masters' dinner menu.

Charles Barkley never won a championship in his 17-year NBA career, but that still might not be the title he desires most.

Barkley, who has become an avid golfer since he retired from the NBA in 2000, said he would rather win The Masters than the NBA Finals during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.

"I'd take the Masters personally," Barkley said. "They give out the NBA championship every year. And I know they do the Masters every year, but nobody knows who won the championship five years ago in the NBA ... I don't even know how many living Masters champions there are. It can't be more than 30."

For Barkley, one of the most attractive elements of winning the Masters is the opportunity to participate in the Masters Champion's Dinner. The dinner traditionally allows the previous year's winner to plan out the entire menu for that year's event, which began in 1952 with Ben Hogan.

"Can you imagine being at the Masters' Dinner on Tuesday night with only guys who have won the Masters, and you get to pick out the menu," Barkley said. "That would be one of the coolest things ever!"

Masters Champion's Dinners in recent years have featured dishes inspired by their backgrounds. In 2020 Tiger Woods incorporated his Asian heritage into the menu with an appetizer course of Sushi dishes, and in 2018 Sergio Garcia chose Traditional Spanish Lobster Rice as the dinner's main course.

Barkley would follow that tradition by selecting soul food popular in the American south inspired by his background as an Alabama native. However, the courses might be considered less sophisticated than those chosen by previous champions.

"Fried chicken, ham hocks, neck bones, chitlins, some type of pecan pie, some collard greens," Barkley said when asked what he would choose for the menu. "You know they ain't ever had no chitlins or ham hocks or neck bones in there. I might just throw some finger beats in there to give it a little soul."