Barkley Adds MVP to Dream Year : Pro basketball: He says he will have reached pinnacle if Suns win NBA title and might retire.

Charles Barkley, gracious Tuesday in being honored as the NBA’s most valuable player for the first time, thanked his teammates and coaches.

He thanked Suns’ executives Jerry Colangelo and Cotton Fitzsimmons for engineering the deal that brought him to Phoenix from Philadelphia. He talked about the amazing turn of events during the last year, when he went from one of the league’s losingest teams to the winningest, with an Olympic gold medal and an MVP award along the way.

And he talked about the possibility of retiring after this season.

Barkley’s remarks came with a disclaimer from teammate Danny Ainge--”To be honest, I take very little of what Charles says seriously”--but Barkley appeared entirely serious when he said he might retire if the Suns win the title.

“I will admit there is a possibility that could happen,” he said. “I don’t think my life can get any better than it has the last year, athletics-wise. So I think it would be ideal to leave while you’re on top. You’ve got Dream Team, you’ve got best regular season (record), you’ve got the MVP, and if we’re fortunate enough to win the world championship, I don’t see anything left to accomplish.

“Paul (Westphal, the Suns’ coach) has asked me to sit down after the season and not make any rash judgments. I think that for me personally, I have mentioned that to my teammates on several different occasions. But Paul has asked me not to think about anything until taking time at the end of the season and then worry about retiring.”

Barkley’s momentum that went from last June’s trade from a lottery team to a championship contender to the Olympics to his season with the Suns carried into the MVP balloting. It could have been a much closer finish with the Houston Rockets’ Hakeem Olajuwon, but Barkley had nearly three times as many first-place votes, 59-22, to win easily, 835-647.

“I can’t explain the last year of my life,” said Barkley, who finished fifth in the NBA in scoring and sixth in rebounding. “People don’t have it this good. I just hope I don’t wake up.”

At least not until the Suns win three more games against Seattle in the Western Conference finals and then four in the championship series.

“He has been everything we wanted and hoped he would be,” Westphal said. “Hopefully, he’s got seven more wins in him.”

Olajuwon, having the best season of his career, was left off one of the 98 ballots. That meant one voter didn’t consider him among the five best players this season.