NBA players selected Philadelphia 76er forward Charles...
NBA players selected Philadelphia 76er forward Charles Barkley as the Sporting News’ player of the year.
Barkley received 57 1/2 votes to 44 1/2 for Laker guard Magic Johnson. Chicago’s Michael Jordan was third with 44 votes, followed by New York’s Patrick Ewing with 21 1/2 and Houston’s Akeem Olajuwon with seven. A total of 180 of the league’s 297 players voted.
Barkley averaged 25.2 points and 11.5 rebounds a game.
For the second consecutive year, Jordan was the leading vote-getter on the Sporting News’ NBA all-star team. He was joined on the first team by Barkley, Johnson, Utah’s Karl Malone and Ewing.
In voting by NBA coaches, the Lakers’ Pat Riley was selected as coach of the year by two votes over Rick Adelman of Portland and Jim Lynam of Philadelphia. Larry Brown of San Antonio and Chuck Daly of Detroit tied for third place.
San Antonio center David Robinson was the rookie of the year, with Tim Hardaway of Golden State the runner-up.
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