Barkley criticized Jordan 10 Years Ago and They Haven’t Spoken Since

Charles Barkley critiqued Michael Jordan’s management style and the comments offended his “Airness.”

Dec 02, 2022

Charles Barkley and Micahel Jordan both entered the NBA in 1984 and through a decade of battling each other (and sometimes playing with each other), built a close friendship.

And after both of them retired from competition, they kept in touch and remained friends.

But that all ended in 2012.

According to Barkley, the two Hall of Famers haven’t talked in 10 years because of comments that Barkley made about Jordan.

On an episode of the Let’s Go! Podcast, Barkley said Jordan got offended when he said on a radio show that the six-time champ wasn’t a good NBA executive, which led to the fallout.

Via Sports Illustrated:

“I was being honest about what I thought,” Barkley said. “I said, ‘Listen, the toughest thing about Michael [Jordan], he’s got to put better people around him.’ Because the toughest thing, when you’re famous, they’re on your private jet, you’re buying all the drinks, you’re buying all the dinners. Very few people are gonna be honest with you.
“And I try to surround myself with people like, hey, if I’m screwing up, please tell me. Michael got offended about something I said about him. … We haven't spoken in probably almost 10 years. … And I love the dude like a brother and we’re both stubborn and we haven’t talked.”

Barkley Criticizes Jordan

When Jordan was new to being an executive back in 2006, he made some questionable decisions.

For instance, in his first order of business, he chose to draft Adam Morrison with the third overall pick instead of Brandon Roy (something that Barkley advised him against).

The team went 33-49 that season. And though Morrison wasn’t a complete bust in his rookie year, he only played a total of 122 games from 2006-09.

The Bobcats didn’t improve much either (or at all, really) since Morrison’s departure (for example, they went 7-59 in 2011-12).

And the main reason why the Bobcats were so bad is that, as Barkley pointed out in 2012, Jordan didn’t hire good people to work alongside him.

Via ESPN:

"I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job," Barkley said. "Even though he is one of my great friends, I can't get on here and tell you he's done a great job. He has not done a great job, plain and simple."
"I think the biggest problem has been I don't know if he has hired enough people around him who he will listen to," Barkley said Thursday on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000. "One thing about being famous is the people around you, you pay all their bills so they very rarely disagree with you because they want you to pick up the check. They want to fly around on your private jet so they never disagree with you. I don't think Michael has hired enough people around him who will disagree."

And this was the comment that ended their friendship.

Final Thoughts

Jordan was a fantastic basketball player and his Jordan Brand is a huge success.

But I guess he had some trouble navigating the world of being an executive and team owner early on and made some mistakes.

However, it seems that he has made some progress after a decade of managing the team as the Charlotte Hornets are much better and look to have a bright future.

Now, he just needs to work on his pride and stubbornness so that he and Barkley can become friends again.

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