With the most unfiltered NBA analyst criticizing his bosses at TNT and ESPN, NBC probably thought it dodged a bullet. But no one is safe from the Round Mound of Rebound. Charles Barkley launched into a tirade about another sports network. And this time it’s about the reunion with Michael Jordan that was never meant to be.

In February 2025, when everyone was on edge about Charles Barkley potentially retiring, he confirmed he had left $100 million on the table by rejecting NBC’s offer. Months later, NBC announced it had signed Michael Jordan as a special contributor. Fans were lamenting the missed opportunity of Chuck and MJ reuniting after their public fallout until they realized that Jordan was never going live on air.

Sir Charles reunited with his old Houston teammate, Eddie A. Johnson, on SiriusXM. And instead of going after ESPN again, he brutally slammed NBC for how they’re using his ex-best friend.

“I was excited. We need Michael Jordan affiliated with the NBA,” Barkley told Johnson, something he’s been saying all of 2025. Till the new season began with Inside the NBA on ESPN and the hyped Jordan appearance, contrasting expectations. NBC microdosed a single long interview between Jordan and Mike Tirico to the NBA world in MJ’s Insights to Excellence. Like most of us, Chuckster was disappointed.

“But now you see this thing coming out with NBC and you’re like, ‘Wait, y’all did one interview, like five months ago and y’all gonna sprinkle it throughout the season?’ Come on, man. That’s disingenuous by NBC. Listen, that’s crazy, man.”

Barkley was not the only one who felt NBC’s plans didn’t live up to the hype of Jordan ending his media exile. Both he and Shaquille O’Neal were talking about how much the current NBA landscape could benefit from MJ’s ‘live analysis.’ But the pre-taped segments felt like archival footage with very little relevance. And they apparently aren’t filming it anymore because of the fan outrage.

But Chuck’s frustrations go a lot deeper because he was almost a part of that.

Charles Barkley’s frustrations with NBC go beyond Michael Jordan

The last time Charles Barkley was this critical of NBC, it was when TNT was shut out of the NBA media rights negotiations. Sir Charles slammed the league and its new NBA partners for failing to take fans’ needs into account. Fans won when Inside the NBA was licensed to ESPN. However, the sporadic schedule angered both Inside loyalists and Chuck.

Right after Barkley slammed TNT for its handling of the licensing deal and ESPN for their schedules, Chuck is now going after NBC. Note that Barkley’s principles were why he walked away from NBC’s very lucrative offer. Leaving would jeopardize the jobs of the original TNT crew and entail more work than he wanted to do at 62.

He told Johnson, “I’m so disappointed that the way that worked out, because, you know, I talked to NBC. NBC has actually offered me a contract.” He canceled retirement and went to ESPN, something he swore he’d never do, out of loyalty to Shaq, Ernie and Kenny.

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But there’s also a degree of loyalty to Michael Jordan that makes him say that NBC’s usage of him is “a bad look for NBC, and it’s just a bad look, plain and simple.”

It was Chuck’s on-air critiques that had broken one of the best friendships in the NBA. Way back in 2012, Barkley criticized Jordan’s management of the Charlotte Hornets. He later confirmed that MJ severed their friendship on an angry phone call.

Chuck has expressed a desire to reconcile, but he stands by his criticism of Jordan as a team owner, even after Jordan sold the Hornets in 2023.

With Jordan doing a pre-taped interview at his Florida residence, the small chance of these two ex-friends running into each other at a studio is also gone. Fans can only hope next season is different.