re: NBA question: Better player Bird or Barkley

Bird has one of the better what ifs in the NBA.

He was one of the best players in the NBA despite throwing his back out in 1985.

After ruining his back, and basically being unable to sit in a chair during games, he still put up these stats:

26/10/7/2 on 50/42/90 in 1986
28/9/7/2/1 on 53/40/91 in 1987
30/9/6/2/1 on 53/41/92 in 1988

then he reinjured his back and "only" averaged 21.5/9.1/7.1/1.4/0.9 on 47/37/92 his last 4 seasons.

It is crazy that his best 3 years statistically were immediately after ruining his back and even after ruining it even more he still was one of the best in the game. Not even mentioning the fact that maybe he wins another ring if Len Bias doesn't die and is decent.