Charles Barkley and Michel Jordan were great friends for years and both were even drafted two picks apart in the 1984 NBA draft, but their relationship faded over time.
Barkley recently appeared on HBO’s sports talk show “Back on the Record with Bob Costas” and revealed that his honesty on Jordan’s front office skills rubbed the NBA great the wrong way when he made comments about his Charlotte Bobcat team some years back on live TV.
“You guys were tight. Normally I don’t deal in this kind of stuff. But it’s you and it’s Michael Jordan. Are you guys still friends? What’s up with that?” Costas asked Barkley during the segment.
Barkley didn’t shy away from the question and dived right in.
“We’re not. And I take some responsibility for that. I criticized [him] – he was one of my best friends, and I definitely love him and miss him, to be honest with you. But … I have to do my job. I said, at the time, and we can debate whether I should have said it, but I was asked a question, and I’m told always be honest at my job. I said, ‘I don’t know if Michael’s ever going to be successful [running the Charlotte Hornets] because I don’t know if he [has] enough strong people around him,’” Barkley revealed.
The two retired athletes had a history of partying and gambling together and playing rounds of golf at their leisure.
“It was painful to lose him as a friend, and it’s still painful, but when I said it at the time, it was true. Whether I was right or wrong, that’s debatable. But when I’m asked a question on live television, I have to be honest because that’s just who I am,” Barkley continued.
Michael Jordan became a majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats (formerly the Charlotte Hornets) in 2010, after being a minority owner for four years prior. Jordan continues to run the team.
