Charles Barkley. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Nuggets have new challenge to overcome thanks to Charles Barkley

By Sean Keane | Last updated 5/21/23

The Nuggets have an imposing 2-0 lead in the conference finals. But they still have to overcome the Charles Barkley Curse.

Friday night, Barkley emphatically picked Denver as his NBA champion. "Denver's gonna win a championship in my opinion," Barkley said on "Inside The NBA." "I can't wait to get to the Finals because I know they have good golf courses out there in Denver. Hey, Peyton Manning, I'm calling you!"

Then, Barkley delivered the three most dramatic syllables in NBA studio shows: GUAR-AN-TEE.

The moment we've all been dreading. Charles Barkley locks in his Denver Nuggets NBA Finalists guarantee.#MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/EyXsCRkCu6
— n i k o l a e s t h e t i c (@nikolaesthetic) May 20, 2023

It's ringing endorsement of the top-seeded Nuggets and triple-double machine Nikola Jokic. But Barkley's guarantees have an uneven history of panning out. He GUARANTEED the Kings would "whoop" the Warriors in Game 5 of their first-round series, two weeks after GUARANTEEING that the Kings would win a playoff series in 2023.

Charles Barkley on TNT: “The Kings are gonna whoop their ass tonight. Guarantee it. Guarantee it. It ain't gonna be close. Not gonna be close.” pic.twitter.com/Ytrs6Ehs6O
— Cameron Salerno (@cameronsalerno1) April 27, 2023

His GUARANTEE struggles haven't been limited to basketball either. In November, Barkley guaranteed that the United States would defeat the Netherlands in the World Cup. (They did not.)

"I GUARANTEE the Netherlands in trouble!"

Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/oK6Ti70RlQ
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) November 30, 2022

In the 2021 NBA playoffs, TNT debuted the GUARANTEE button, with lights, sirens and objects dropping from the ceiling to progressively more ridiculous levels. While he started strong, Barkley finished with an ignominious 6-11 record and some GUARANTEED embarrassment.

The Nuggets have been proving their doubters wrong all postseason, from the MVP voters to the oddsmakers. Now, they'll have to prove Barkley right. And if they do, the haters can put that in their pipe and smoke it. GUARANTEED.