Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were very close friends during their time together in the NBA. Barkley and MJ came into the NBA at the same time, being part of the 1984 NBA Draft class, one of the greatest in NBA history. Both Barkley and Jordan rose through the ranks to become two of the best players in the NBA. But they never earned the kind of money some of their contemporaries did.
Charles Barkley spoke recently in an interview about his contract. He noted that Scottie Pippen, who was quite upset about the amount he was making in Chicago, was actually making more money than Jordan and Barkley. Barkley recalled MJ telling him that there was no point in complaining about the contracts because they signed on the dotted line and there was nothing they could do about it (3:55 onwards).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU1i4mpLicw
“Both Michael and I were talking about how many people on team were making more than we did. In the end, MJ said, ‘We just need to shut the f*ck up, we signed the deal that we did and play our contract’.”
Clearly, Jordan was more concerned with keeping his word and honoring the commitment he made to the Chicago Bulls than trying to leverage his talent to make more money. Jordan also had many endorsements off the court that made him a lot of money, so his finances were taken care of. Jordan was committed to playing basketball, and the finances of it were secondary.
Jordan did become a free agent for the first time in 1996. Jordan used his negotiations with the New York Knicks as a bargaining chip to negotiate a great contract with the Chicago Bulls, a contract that would end up making him the highest-paid player in all of sports at the time.
