The Phoenix Suns legend Charles Barkley was Michael Jordan’s biggest rival during the 1992-93 championship. The Chicago Bulls had already won two back-to-back championships previously and Jordan was eyeing his first three-peat. Barkley fought hard in the Finals but MJ managed to drive the Bulls home to a victory. Meanwhile, strangely enough, Barkley and Jordan had become the best of friends during that time. However, Charles Barkley recently revealed that he has not talked with Michael Jordan in 10 years, after criticizing the Bulls legend for failing to manage his $1.7 billion possession.

Barkley recently made an appearance at the Let’s Go! podcast alongside Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jim Gray. In the podcast, the NBA Hall of Famer shared that losing Michael Jordan‘s friendship was ‘probably the most prominent thing’ that happened to him.

Back in 2012, Barkley gave his honest opinion on how Michael Jordan was doing as an NBA owner of the $1.7 billion worth Charlotte Hornets. However, given MJ’s competitiveness and his nature of holding grudges, he did not talk to Charles Barkley since then.

What did Barkley say about Michael Jordan?

In a 2012 interview with ESPN, Barkley claimed that he did not think MJ had done a good job with the Hornets after buying the franchise in 2010. Barkley said, “I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job.”

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Since then, MJ reportedly hasn’t talked to his former best friend Barkley in the last ten years. Charles Barkley recently opened up about the incident on the podcast. The 1993 MVP shared that he was being honest about what he thought. He suggested that MJ needed to put better people around, who were willing to be honest with him.

Moreover, Barkley stated that he tries to surround himself with people who were willing to let him know about his mistakes. The Suns legend added, “And Michael got offended about something I said about him. And we haven’t spoken in probably almost 10 years.”

“But I was being honest about what I thought. I said, ‘Listen, the toughest thing about Michael, 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,” added the former NBA MVP.

Thus, the NBA veteran felt sad about losing his friendship with Michael Jordan. However, he refused to back down on what he had said in the past, believing that he gave his honest opinion.

Hornets are yet to win a championship

Jordan has been a controlling owner of the Charlotte Hornets since 2010. However, he has not been able to change the fortunes of the Hornets in the last 12 years, despite winning six NBA championships with the Bulls. The franchise is yet to win a championship and the team has not made it to the playoffs in the last six seasons.

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The 2022-23 season has been no different for the Hornets. The team has had a difficult start with a 4-14 record. Thus, Michael Jordan would hope that the tides would finally turn for his team in the near future, while Barkley remains true to his words which led to the end of their friendship.