’93 Phoenix Suns This Close to World Domination

The Phoenix Suns never won an NBA championship while Kevin “KJ” Johnson was at point. But now, with Johnson running for Mayor of Sacramento, Charles Barkley attempting to become the Governor of Alabama, and Danny Ainge launching an exploratory committee about a possible coup of New England, it appears that the ’93 Phoenix Suns are closer than ever to taking over the world.

Once Dan Majerle flops out of his tanning booth it’s all over, folks.

But all kidding aside, Kevin Johnson is a legitimate candidate for the top job in Sacramento. And although Charles Barkley’s run for Governor will have to wait until 2014, all signs indicate that he, too, will be on the ticket as a viable candidate for office when the time comes.

While it might merely be a coincidence that two former NBA stars who played on the same team at the same time have both announced that they plan to seek a high political position recently, the parallelism is not without noting.

Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley teamed up when Barkley joined the Phoenix Suns in the 1992-’93 season. Already a playoff team with way too many elite outside shooters- such as Danny Ainge, Dan Majerle and Jeff Hornacek- the Suns aquired the inside presence they needed when they picked up Barkley and let Hornacek go. Charles Barkley picked up Hornacek’s numbers in the scoring column while instantly making Phoenix a formidable rebounding team as well. After finishing first in their division with a record of 62-20, the Suns went to the NBA Finals.

However, they were defeated at the hands of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the title series, four games to two. For the next three seasons KJ, Sir Charles and the Suns were eliminated from the playoffs before they could reach the Finals again. Johnson and Barkley were one of the best duos in the game, though they will go down as never having been good enough to get a championship, much like John Stockton and Karl Malone, Gary Paton and Shawn Kemp, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki.

After their basketball careers ended in 2000, Chuck went to work as a broadcaster and KJ, a Sacramento native, returned home to take part in urban redevelopment projects in an effort to revitalize poorer neighborhoods in Sac-Town. While always somewhere in the spotlight due to their celebrity status, Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley have, like a soft shooting team landing a physical presence down low, significantly upped their exposure on the national radar with their recent political announcements.

Both Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley have more than enough name-recognition to give their political aspirations merit. But they each have challenges to overcome.

Johnson will have to fight a very short but very intense battle against an entrenched and well-organized Heather Fargo, the current Mayor of Sacramento. Making the race slightly more interesting is the fact that Fargo’s health has been failing lately. Out of politeness, the major candidates for her position have declined to campaign at full strength until Fargo can adequately defend her mayoral seat.

With the housing market in Sacramento in decline like the rest of the nation, the inner parts of the city crumbling, Fargo and the political norm being blamed for several botched attempts at moving the Sacramento Kings’ arena downtown, and the winds of change blowing like a cool delta breeze over the Central Valley (and the political arena in general), the time could not be more perfect for Kevin Johnson’s bid for the mayor’s office. However, his momentum will be stifled out of respect for Fargo’s condition, and because of an old scandal Johnson was involved in years ago when some of the buildings he owned failed to meet code.

As a local hero and beloved celebrity known for his selflessness both on the court and off, Kevin Johnson blows away any of the other old guard Capital City politicos when it comes to developing a buzz and energizing voters in a city that will, as usual, pick one Democrat over another Democrat. The longer Johnson is forced to dribble out the shot clock, though, the more frantic his drive to the Mayor’s mansion will have to be.

While Kevin Johnson made a name for himself locally after his playing days were through, Charles Barkley became a regular pregame and halftime Costello to Kenny Smith’s Abbot during TNT’s nationally televised NBA coverage. You can also see him clowning around with Dwayne Wade in T-Mobile commercials. The Round Mound of Rebound will probably score a lot of points with Alabama voters who are initially turned on by his famous name and his Homer Simpson-meets-John Madden ability to relate to the Average Joe. His potential within the large African American community in the state could be a huge positive, and he comes off as completely genuine, never nuanced, always in foul trouble.

However, the unrefined Charles Barkley, more specifically his notoriously loud mouth, might end up being his undoing. He has already called out Republicans as “fake Christians” in a recent CNN interview about his candidacy- something that might not sit well with voters in a red state. Charles is a former Republican stalwart who has defected, although he has animosity for both sides of the political spectrum. While Kevin Johnson needs more time to meet the public as a candidate, it might be best to keep Charles Barkley as far away from voters for as long as possible.

Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley are both running where they were heroes in their youth, and they both desire to change things for the urban poor, invest in public education and other local-level issues. KJ and Charles Barkley are on the same team again, but will they finally win the big one, or will the ’93 Phoenix Suns fall once more to the incumbent powers that be?