Charles Barkley: Reconnecting with Michael Jordan following disagreement
A long-standing estrangement between NBA Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley seems to be easing, as Barkley announced that the two plan to meet for a round of golf during the offseason.
“We had a conversation,” Barkley shared with Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Unleashed” on Friday. “We’re going to get together and play golf as soon as the basketball season concludes.”
The nearly 15-year silence began in 2012 when Barkley, during an interview on ESPN Chicago radio, criticized Jordan’s performance as the owner of the then-Charlotte Bobcats, suggesting that the Chicago Bulls legend had not surrounded himself with enough dissenting voices regarding his management of the team.
“I care for Michael, but he simply has not performed well,” Barkley remarked at that time. “Even though he is one of my close friends, I can’t come on here and say he’s done a great job. He has not done a great job, straightforward.”
Barkley has previously voiced his disappointment regarding the divide between them. In 2020, around the airing of ESPN’s “The Last Dance,” which focused on the conclusion of the Bulls dynasty, Barkley mentioned to ESPN 1000 about Jordan: “Oh, he has my number. He can reach out to me.”
Jordan became the majority owner of the Bobcats in 2006. He sold his majority stake, while keeping a minority interest, in the rebranded Charlotte Hornets in 2023 for an estimated valuation of $3 billion.
Jordan has not publicly addressed the upcoming meeting, and Barkley, a veteran analyst on “Inside the NBA,” minimized the extent of any animosity between them.
“We’re not like Prince William and Prince Harry. We always have a lot of affection for each other,” Barkley stated to Sirius XM. “But we spoke in the last 72 hours. We just decided to meet up and play golf as soon as basketball is over.”
