Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were once very good friends, but things changed drastically a few years ago. Barkley recently sat down with David Aldridge of The Athletic and discussed the details of the rift between the two Hall-of-Famers.
The friendship of more than 20 years came to a halt after Barkley was very critical about Jordan’s management style with the Charlotte Hornets organization.
“We were great friends forever. I miss Michael. I love Michael. I wish him nothing but the best. He’s the greatest basketball player ever. But obviously, he didn’t take kindly to some things I said about his management skills. And that’s unfortunate. That’s unfortunate. But I’ve got to do my job …”
Barkley added that he would like to reconcile with Jordan.
“You know, you sound like some of my friends. That can’t happen because I didn’t do anything wrong. I would love to be friends with Michael ’cause, like I say, he was great to me for 20-some years and I love him like a brother. He was like a brother to me. But our last conversation, he was not very happy with some things I was saying about him on television. … My criticisms, No. 1, were fair …”
The root of Barkley’s criticism of the Bobcats were more so aimed at the people Jordan hired to be a part of the team’s front office.
“Don’t you have friends who you’re not sure how they’re gonna react when you’re honest with them? Especially somebody on his level. And like I say, hey, I love the dude. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. It’s unfortunate the way things went down. But I’m going to always try to do my job. And actually, my criticism was about the people around him. … I thought the people he hired around him were too many yes men. That was actually my statement, to be honest. I thought the people around him, they wanted the private jet. They wanted the steak dinner. They were always going to be yes men.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
With sports fans starved for new content, ESPN finally got the message and bumped up the release date of the new “The Last Dance” 10-hour Michael Jordan documentary.
ESPN moved the release date and the first episodes air on Sunday that focus on the 1997-98 season, which was Jordan’s final title, the season before he retired.
The 10-part Michael Jordan documentary will be shown in two-hour blocks:
Sunday, April 19
Episodes 1 & 2: 9 p.m. Eastern
Sunday, April 26
Episodes 3 & 4: 9 p.m. Eastern
Sunday, May 3
Episodes 6 & 6: 9 p.m. Eastern
Sunday, May 10
Episodes 7 & 8: 9 p.m. Eastern
Sunday, May 17
Episodes 9 & 10: 9 p.m. Eastern
