Blazers' Damian Lillard Gives Charles Barkley $1,197 Check for Old Trip Expenses

On behalf of the Portland Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard reimbursed Charles Barkley for a trip Barkley made decades ago.

As Barkley said Thursday night on Inside the NBA, he paid for a flight to Portland during his playing career to try to broker a trade. The Phoenix Suns instead acquired the forward from the Philadelphia 76ers, but he said the Blazers still owed him $1,197 for travel expenses.

The following day, Portland wrote an oversized check for the amount.

Following Sunday night's refreshingly competitive All-Star Game, Lillard presented Barkley with a legitimate check. Sir Charles said he would frame it instead of cashing it out of respect for Portland.

The vocal commentator spent the last week reminiscing about trades that never came to fruition. On Wednesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live, he said he played drunk after his agent told him the 76ers had a deal in place to trade him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

If the Portland trip occurred around the time of Barkley's 1992 trade to Phoenix, it's easy to see why he was eager to join the Trail Blazers, who made the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. He would have formed a formidable duo with Clyde Drexler to challenge Michael Jordan's dynastic Chicago Bulls.

[Twitter]