Charles Barkley has revealed that he and fellow NBA legend Michael Jordan have taken a major step towards healing their fractured friendship.
Barkley and Jordan, two of the biggest stars in the NBA in the 1990s, were once close friends, having also been teammates on the USA’s Dream Team in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
However, Barkley previously revealed that the pair had not spoken since a blistering late-night phone call in 2012, after he criticized Jordan’s performance as then-Charlotte Hornets owner.
But they now appear to be mending bridges as NBA analyst Barkley recently revealed that the former friends have talked their issues through.
Speaking on Chris Russo’s Mad Dog Unleashed on SiriusXM on Friday, Barkley said the two have started talking again and will hit the links after the NBA season is over.
‘We had a conversation,’ Barkley said. ‘We’re going to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over.’
Charles Barkley revealed that he and Michael Jordan are mending their fractured friendship
As Russo said to Barkley, ‘Charles, that’s a big story because he was mad at you!’
But Barkley brushed off the dramatics, insisting that their feud was never that serious.
‘We’re not like Prince William and Prince Harry,’ said the Hall of Famer. ‘We always had a lot of love for each other. But we talked, actually, in the last probably 72 hours. We decided to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over.’
Back in December, Barkley had revealed that the pair have not spoken since a blistering late-night phone call in 2012, after he criticized Jordan’s performance as Hornets owner.
Barkley delivered the scathing assessment on an episode of TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’ and revealed that, on the same night, he got a call from a frustrated Jordan.
‘He called me that night and went ballistic on me,’ Barkley told the Tom Tolbert show. ‘He said ‘you supposed to be my best friend and you’re going to do that bulls***?’.
The Chicago Bulls icon and Barkley were once close friends until a rift developed in 2012
Barkley, known for his unfiltered honesty since becoming an analyst, refused to back down despite the intimidating outburst from his friend, the Chicago Bulls icon.
‘I told him I have to do my job and you haven’t been a good GM,’ Barkley admitted.
‘How can I criticize other people and give him a pass? When other guys make bad draft picks, I call them on it too’.
The exchange reportedly devolved into a one-sided shouting match as Jordan took the criticism personally.
