For a long time, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were best friends. The two of them first met in 1984 at the Olympic trials and immediately hit it off with one another. A great bond was formed as they hung out a lot, and Barkley seemed to be one of the few opposing players that Jordan genuinely liked during his time in the NBA.
Unfortunately, that close bond shattered when Barkley criticized Jordan on television for the way he was running the Charlotte franchise. MJ never forgave Barkley for it, and it is a real shame that he still holds on to it, as we saw during the 75th-anniversary ceremony for the NBA, where he ignored Barkley. It has also robbed us of some epic moments between the two of them, like when they were on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005. It was a great episode with a lot of hilarious moments, and one of them was when Barkley roasted Jordan regarding his looks.
(starts at 12:53 mark):
“Everybody is kissing his butt the whole time but I come at him. People always talk about, ‘he’s handsome,’ but he’s not handsome. He is not handsome. I think anytime you get 3, 4, 500 million dollars, you become handsome.”
We all need friends like Barkley who are not trying to butter you up all the time. A true friend would keep it real, and while you may not appreciate hearing some hard truths, it is what you really need. Unfortunately, Jordan doesn’t see it that way, and Barkley stated that MJ surrounded himself with people who weren’t honest with him. They just told him the kind of things he wanted to hear, not what he needed to hear.
Charles Barkley Wants To Repair His Fractured Relationship With Michael Jordan
While Michael Jordan continues to show him the cold shoulder, Charles Barkley still hopes that they can put it behind them and become friends once again. He recently stated that he wants them to get past the bull***t and get back to playing golf and having fun.
From having seen over the years how Jordan operates, it is quite unlikely that he’ll forgive Barkley and welcome him back into his inner circle. The bridge was burned for MJ when Charles said what he said back then, and there’s no going back now. Charles Oakley, who is quite close with Jordan, said that the two would never be friends again, and the way it’s going, you have to believe he is right.
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