NBA legends Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan may have been fierce rivals on the court for much of their careers, but they were also very close friends off it.
However, long after their retirements, a rift developed between the two over some comments Barkley made about Jordan’s management skills.
The pair had not interacted in years… until recently. Now, Barkley just revealed they are back on speaking terms.
Charles Barkley Reveals Golf Plans With Michael Jordan After Mending Their Relationship
Barkley and Jordan’s close friendship came to an end in 2012 when Barkley publicly criticized Jordan’s management style as the then-Charlotte Bobcats team owner during an appearance on ESPN 1000’s “The Waddle & Silvy Show.” Later explaining his comments, Barkley said he believed Jordan’s stature made it difficult for people around him to challenge his decisions.
Shortly after the criticism, Jordan called Barkley, and the conversation ended on a harsh note. Barkley recalled, “The last thing I heard was, ‘F**k you, you’re supposed to be my boy.’”
Now, 14 years later, the two have reconnected.
“We had a conversation. We’re gonna get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over,” Barkley said on the “Mad Dog Unleashed” program on SiriusXM.
“Hey, we’re not like Prince William and Prince Harry. We always had a lot of love for each other. But we talked, actually, probably in the last 72 hours. We decided to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over.”
Barkley and Jordan were teammates on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, where they were arguably the two best players. A year later, they faced each other in the 1993 NBA Finals.
Off the court, they shared a strong friendship, with Jordan once giving Barkley valuable advice regarding his Nike endorsement deal.
“We both go to Nike, they sign Michael, and they sign me. And Michael gave me some great advice one time,” Barkley recalled. “He says, ‘Hey man, why do you need all that money?’ I was like ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’
“He says, ‘I was looking at your contract, you’re making about $3 million. Tell Nike you want $1 million, and you want the rest in stock options.’ I said I will run it by my guys. This dude is the greatest basketball player of all time, [so I told them], Let’s do it. I actually made probably 10 times the amount of money, and I’m still with Nike to this day.”
It’s good to see the two longtime friends mend their relationship. Fans may now wonder whether Jordan could eventually repair his long-standing feud with Isiah Thomas as well, though that situation remains far more complicated given their history.
