Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan take major step toward repairing friendship afte
r 14-year spat
Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan weren’t just two of the biggest stars in the
NBA in the 1990s, they were also teammates on the Dream Team in the 1992 Olympi
cs and close friends who happened to love golf.
But Barkley’s criticism over a decade ago of Jordan’s then-role as owner and h
ead of basketball operations of the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) damaged that
relationship.
Now, they appear to have mended fences — and golf will once again be involved.
The problems started in 2012, when Barkley said on ESPN Chicago’s Waddle & Silv
y show that “the biggest problem has been I don’t know if [Jordan] has hired e
nough people around him who he will listen to. One thing about being famous is t
he people around you, you pay all their bills, so they very rarely disagree with
you because they want you to pick up the check… I don’t think Michael has hir
ed enough people around him who will disagree.”
Barkley added at the time: “I love Michael, but he has not done a good job.”
Jordan, not surprisingly, did not appreciate those comments and in 2020, Barkley
noted their relationship hadn’t recovered.
“The guy was like a brother to me for, shoot, 20-something years,” Barkley sai
d six years ago. “And I do… I feel sadness. But to me, he’s still the greates
t basketball player ever. I wish him nothing but the best. But there’s nothing
I can do about it, brother.”
Until now, apparently.
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.”
As Russo said to Barkley, “Charles, that’s a big story because he was mad at y
ou!”
But Barkley insisted the issues weren’t that deep.
“We’re not like Prince William and Prince Harry,” said Barkley, who is on “I
nside the NBA” on ESPN, while Jordan is a minority owner with the Hornets, whos
e season ended Friday night in a play-in loss to the Orlando Magic. “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
.”
Charles Barkley与Michael Jordan在长达14年的不和之后，迈出了修复友谊的重要一步。
在1990年代，巴克利和乔丹不仅是NBA最耀眼的两位球星之一，他们也曾在1992年奥运“梦
幻队”中当过队友，私下更是热爱打高尔夫的好友。
然而，十多年前，巴克利批评乔丹当时担任夏洛特山猫队（现为夏洛特黄蜂队）老板兼篮球
营运主管的表现，导致两人关系破裂。
如今，他们似乎已经重修旧好，而且高尔夫再次成为关键。
问题始于2012年，当时巴克利在ESPN Chicago的节目中表示：“最大问题在于，我不确定（
乔丹）身边是否有足够多他愿意倾听的人。成名之后，你身边的人都是你在付帐，他们很少
会反对你，因为他们希望你继续买单……我不认为麦可身边有足够会提出不同意见的人。”
巴克利当时还补充：“我爱麦可，但他做得不好。”
乔丹对这些评论自然感到不满。直到2020年，巴克利仍表示两人的关系尚未恢复。
巴克利在六年前说：“他对我来说就像兄弟一样，将近20多年。我确实感到难过。但在我心
中，他仍是史上最伟大的篮球员。我祝他一切顺利，但这件事我也无能为力。”
不过现在情况似乎有所改变。
巴克利在周五接受SiriusXM节目《Mad Dog Unleashed》主持人Chris Russo访问时表示，两
人已经重新开始联络，并计画在NBA赛季结束后一起打高尔夫。
巴克利说：“我们谈过了。我们会在篮球赛季结束后一起打高尔夫。”
主持人鲁索则回应：“查尔斯，这可是大新闻，因为他之前对你很生气！”
但巴克利强调事情并没有那么严重。
他表示：“我们又不是威廉王子和哈利王子那样。我们一直彼此有很多感情。事实上，我们
大概在过去72小时内有过对话。我们决定在篮球赛季结束后见面打高尔夫。”
目前巴克利在《Inside the NBA》节目中担任评论员，而乔丹则是黄蜂队的小股东；该队本
季在附加赛中输给奥兰多魔术队后，已于周五结束赛季。
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