For years, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were two of the fiercest competitors on the basketball court. They were also, however, good friends outside of the game and frequently hung out. Jordan and Barkley’s friendship has since dissipated, and the latter has occasionally shared insight into the breakdown of that relationship. Now, “Sir Charles” is sharing more recollections about the moment that ended his friendship with “Air Jordan.” And, apparently, a tense late-night phone call was even involved.
Charles Barkley has long been honest about the fact that he inadvertently initiated his estrangement from Michael Jordan by making some comments about his former friend. As Barkley explained during his recent appearance on The Tom Tolbert Show (which is on YouTube), those comments were made while he was on the air. The former NBA MVP recalled his exact critiques, which he also referred to as “indisputed facts”:
What I said about Michael was, ‘Michael, I don’t ever think he’s going to be successful. I think the people around him, they’re not good talent evaluators, and you need better people around you. And he’s not been successful as a [general manager].’ And, first of all, those are undisputed facts.
In 1999, following his retirement from the Chicago Bulls, Jordan joined the Washington Wizards as the President of Basketball Operations, and he served a minority owner as well, before eventually coming out of retirement to play for the team After being fired from his position as director in 2003, following his third and final retirement. In 2006, he became a minority owner of the NBA team then known as the Charlotte Bobcats and became majority owner of the team (the first ex-player to ever accomplish that) in 2010. He sold his majority stake in 2019.
Like Barkley, some other pundits criticized some of the business decisions Jordan made as an executive. Barkley went on to explain to Tom Tolbert that later in the evening, after he made his comments, Jordan called him and was not happy at all:
I remember he called me that night, and he went ballistic on me, telling me, ‘Hey, you supposed to be my best friend, and you’re going to do that bullshit? Blah, blah, blah, blah blah.’ I said, ‘Man, I gotta do my job.’ And I said, ‘You haven’t done a good job as a general manager, and that’s my job. How can I criticize other people and give you a pass?’ I said, ‘When other guys make bad draft picks, I call them out on it, too.’ And he just cursed me out up and down, and we have not spoken since that night. And it was a very difficult thing for me, because the guy was really like, my best friend at the time.
Charles Barkley previously talked about “losing” his friendship with Michael Jordan, saying that he loved him like a “brother” but believed the Space Jam alum needed to surround himself with better people. The Inside the NBA co-host attributed their continued estrangement to the fact that they’re both “stubborn.” When asked on a separate occasion if his friendship with Jordan could be repaired, Barkley merely said “he’s got my number.”
Still, Barkley has praised his former friend on several occasions, like when he recalled admitting that Jordan was the better player between the two of them. Barkley also credited Jordan for giving him career advice. It seems unlikely that Barkley and Jordan – who’s also engaged in a one-sided feud with ex-teammate, Scottie Pippen – will ever mend fences. Still, crazier things have happened, right?