Charles Barkley made only three visits to Toronto during his NBA career, but the city clearly made quite an impact on the Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n
Retiring from the NBA in 2000, Barkley missed the heyday of the Raptors franchise during his playing career.<\/p>\n
But in a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, the Leeds, Alabama, native Barkley gave his flowers to his neighbours to the north \u2014 and their hockey team.<\/p>\n
In his closing remarks, co-hosts \u201cBig Cat\u201d and \u201cPFT Commenter\u201d told Barkley to say hello to mutual friend Paul \u201cBizNasty\u201d Bissonnette, who works both alongside the duo at Barstool Sports and Barkley at TNT. While they were complimentary of Bissonnette, they said he needed to tone down how loudly he\u2019s supported the Leafs in public over the years<\/a>.<\/p>\n Barkley countered with the fact that he\u2019s hoping to see the Stanley Cup come back to Toronto someday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m rooting for them. They gotta win soon. I know they let [Mitch] Marner just go, but I gotta root for them because that\u2019s my favourite city in the world,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cToronto is the best city in the world. Easily. Chicago\u2019s summer is the second-best. Those are my two favourite places in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Barkley picked the Maple Leafs to make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final<\/a>, before being defeated by the Edmonton Oilers. It wasn\u2019t the worst prediction, as the Oilers did make the Stanley Cup Final, while Toronto fell in seven games in the second round to the eventual champion Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n In 2019, while visiting during the NBA Finals, Barkley said that he comes to Toronto every summer.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is one of the best cities in the world,\u201d Barkley said<\/a>. \u201cI come up here every summer. This is one of the best-kept secrets in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n