Michael Jordan doesn’t take criticism from friends too kindly.
According to Charles Barkley, the NBA legend and former majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets cut off his friendship with him after some comments he made.
Jordan and Barkley have a relationship that stretches back decades, sparking from when the pair were both drafted into the NBA in 1984.
Barkley was picked by the Philadelphia 76ers while Jordan was selected by the Chicago Bulls.
The pair were teammates at the 1992 Olympics and starred in the famous ‘Dream Team’ who stormed to a gold medal in Barcelona, Spain.
Jordan and Barkley would even battle for championships, most notably in 1993 when the Bulls overcame the Suns 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
After retirement, the two went on to share what seemed like a strong friendship, as they would often be seen on the golf course together.
However, their multi-decade relationship turned sour when Barkley’s new job as a basketball analyst saw him make remarks that Jordan didn’t like.
In 2012, Barkley criticised Jordan’s record as the owner of the Hornets.
The 62-year-old on ESPN’S radio station, said “I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job,” Barkley said on The Waddle & Silvy Show.
“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.”
Those comments provoked an immediate reaction from Jordan, as Barkley claimed he called him straight after the interview.
“He went ballistic,” Barkley recalled on Showtime’s ‘All the Smoke.’
“He called me and that’s the last thing I heard was, ‘Motherfucker fuck you, you’re supposed to be my boy.’ I said, ‘Man, I gotta do my job.’ We haven’t spoken since that night.”
When speaking to CBS, Barkley deafened his decision to criticise Jordan.
“And what I said, I think that he don’t have enough people around him that are gonna tell him, ‘No,’” Barkley told CBS 60 Minutes. “And he got really offended, and we haven’t spoken.”
“I’m gonna do my job,” he said. “Because I have zero credibility if I criticise other people in the same boat and not criticise my best friend.
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“What I said was true, that’s probably the only thing. I don’t regret saying it, I regret losing a good, one of my best friends.”
More then a decade has passed since Barkley’s initial comments and Jordan isn’t even the majority owner of the Hornets anymore.
The six-time NBA champion owned the franchise for 13 years, but sold his majority stake in 2023 to Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall.
He is now just a minority owner while Barkley continues his TV work for TNT on Inside the NBA.
