The National Basketball Association (NBA) witnessed the rise of two legends, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, who also became friends afterwards. After retiring from professional basketball play, these two spent a lot of time together on the golf course and playing cards, thereby learning each other’s personalities quite well.
Nevertheless, such friendship was tested by another incident in which Charles made some comments about the role played by His Airness in Charlotte Hornets ownership. As an extremely sensitive person Jordan got hurt and parted ways with his old teammate.
In this regard, Barkley has always been troubled as to why Jordan stopped talking to him while remaining close friends with Phil Jackson. In spite of having criticized Jordan at some point in life like Barkley did, Jackson’s associations have stayed unaltered.
Barkley’s Critique of Jordan’s Ownership
In 2006 Jordan started investing in the franchise before becoming its majority owner four years later. He wanted to rebrand a struggling team into playoff contendership.
Nonetheless, during his tenure the team qualified for playoffs only thrice with two first round sweeps. As an analyst in the NBA, Barkley did not mince his words when talking about Jordan’s ownership. He made it known that Jordan had surrounded himself with “yes-men” who were afraid of giving him any honest feedback.
According to Barkley, this absence of straight talk was hampering Jordan from succeeding as an owner of a team. This criticism didn’t go well with the former six-time champion, and he immediately terminated his relationship with long-time friend.
Barkley Defends His Remarks
For Barkley, the defense has always been that he was just doing his job as an analyst. He also pointed out what he sees to be hypocrisy in Jordan’s behavior. “The thing that irritated me most about that whole thing, I don’t think I said anything all that bad,” stated Barkley on The Waddle & Silvy Show (Newsweek).
“Because I know for a fact, as much as I love Michael, until he stops hiring them kiss-asses and his best friends, he’s never going to be successful as a general manager.” What really upsets him is that Phil Jackson, the legendary coach who guided Jordan to six NBA titles, has expressed the same sentiments about Jorden’s ownership style.
And still Jordan stays close with Jackson. “And what really got me angry about it later on is that Phil Jackson said the same exact thing,” said Barkley.
A Relationship Based on Sincerity
Barkley also remembered how close he was to Michael Jordan, and his astonishment deepens.
He believed that the basis of their friendship was absolute truth because they could simply point out each other’s flaws while intending well. Barkley concluded, “I think one of the main reasons why we are best friends is that I feel like there is nothing that Charles cannot tell me”.
