The feud between NBA legends Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley is well known at this point. However, during his recent appearance on 60 Minutes, Barkley touched on the touchy subject once more and provided the potential road to a reunion between the two, as unlikely as it sounds.
During his sit-down with 60 Minutes reporter Jon Wertheim, Barkley discussed various topics, including his disdain for the state of college basketball and Kevin Durant’s weak temperament for criticism. The conversation eventually turned towards Jordan, who hasn’t spoken to Barkley in years over a comment he made about Jordan’s performance as the Charlotte Hornets (then Bobcats) owner.
“What I said, I think he don’t have enough people around him that gonna tell him ‘No,'” said Barkley. “And he got really offended and we haven’t spoken. But John, I’m gonna do my job. Because I have zero credibility if I criticize other people in the same boat and not criticize my best friend.”
When Wertheim asked Barkley if he ever thinks about picking up the phone and attempting to repair the friendship, Sir Charles had a pretty honest answer.
“I got an ego too, John,” said Barkley. “You can’t be great at something…that doesn’t give you the right to be a jerk.”
When asked if he thinks this feud will be resolved eventually, Barkley simply said “He got my number” and smirked.
That smirk is probably in part because there are few people in the sports world who are better at holding a grudge than Michael Jordan. And considering the comment was about the Chicago Bulls star’s ability to put together a winning basketball team, it seems incredibly unlikely that he’ll ever put his own ego aside in order to hash it out.
Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were best friends until Barkley criticized Jordan’s management of his NBA team. The friendship ended, and they haven’t spoken in years.
“He’s got my number,” said Barkley, who refuses to be the first to apologize. https://t.co/r7Ggg5tsWI pic.twitter.com/C6CjDQB6uj
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 27, 2023
Still, while it sounds like both egos won’t allow for better days, Barkley has made it known that it’s a big regret of his that it happened this way.
“I think probably, me and Michael [Jordan] were best friends, that’s probably the most prominent thing,” Barkley said in November. “Michael Jordan, losing his friendship was probably the most prominent thing that’s happened to me. 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.”
