Michael Jordan wasn’t very close with a lot of his teammates during his time in the NBA. Because of how driven and focused Jordan was, he always demanded the best from himself. But he also demanded the best from his teammates and did it in a way that alienated quite a few of them. But one former teammate of his is still one of his closest friends to this day; Charles Oakley.
Oakley was in Chicago for 3 seasons, and became very close to Michael Jordan. Jordan has even stated in the past that he could always count on Charles Oakley. In a recent interview with Shannon Sharpe, Oakley responded to that comment, noting that he always knew his place in the team, and never tried to disrupt the natural order of things between Jordan or any of the players.
“Probably because when I got there, being a rookie. And what I was doing and showing the veterans that I’m a guy who’s going to do my job, be on time, you hold me accountable. The situation that happened, that was I was around him a couple times, still as a young guy, didn’t worry about the veterans trying use their force on me. It just grew from there. We’ve been in many places and I stay in my place, never try to show I’m better than someone or better than him. I just learned how to play a role… learned how to play a role on the court and off the court.”
Oakley has explained in the past that he and MJ began to get close during their time together at training camp. Spending so much time together eventually brought them very close together. And while their time playing with each other was very brief, the two still held a great deal of love and admiration for each other to this day.
Charles Oakley is still vocal about defending Michael Jordan to this do, doing so recently when addressing MJ and Charles Barkley’s strained relationship. The two are still very close, and it is clear from the way that he speaks how much Oakley reveres Michael Jordan.
