Charles Barkley has revealed that his relationship with Michael Jordan ended suddenly in the aftermath of Barkley doing what he insists was simply his job.
Barkley and Jordan entered the NBA together in 1984 and remained close friends for decades, well beyond their playing days.
That bond finally snapped in 2012, after Barkley publicly criticized Jordan‘s performance running the Charlotte Bobcats. According to Barkley, Jordan took the comments personally and made his feelings clear almost immediately.
Speaking recently on The Tom Tolbert Show, Barkley recalled the phone call that marked the end.
“I remember he called me that night, and he went ballistic on me,” Barkley said. “Telling me, ‘You supposed to be my best friend, and you’re going to do that bulls**t? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’ I said, ‘Man, I gotta do my job.’
“And I said, ‘You haven’t done a good job as a general manager, and that’s my job, to be honest. How can I criticize other people and give you a pass? When other guys make bad draft picks, I call them [out] on it too. And he just cursed me out up and down, and we have not spoken since that night. It was a very difficult thing for me because the guy was, like, really my best friend at the time.”
Where the criticism began
Jordan became a minority owner of the Bobcats in 2006 and quickly took on a hands-on role in basketball decisions.
By 2010, he was the franchise’s majority owner, with final say over roster moves and draft selections. Those decisions became a frequent target of scrutiny as the team struggled to gain traction.
One move in particular lingered. In the 2006 NBA Draft, Charlotte selected Adam Morrison with the No. 4 overall pick, bypassing future All-Stars such as Brandon Roy, Kyle Lowry and Rajon Rondo.
Barkley said he had tried to steer Jordan in a different direction before that pick was made. During a 2012 appearance on ESPN’s The Waddle & Silvy Show, he explained how that conversation went.
“I said, ‘Michael, I think you should take Brandon Roy, and he said, ‘We like Adam Morrison,'” Barkley said.
“I said, ‘Adam Morrison can’t play… I said ‘Michael, nobody wants to disagree with you. You are such a powerful personality, nobody, especially your flunkies, as I call them, the flunkies are never going to disagree with you.’
“I think the biggest problem has been I don’t know if he has hired enough people around him who he will listen to.
“I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job. Even though he is one of my great friends, I can’t get on here and tell you he’s done a great job. He has not done a great job, plain and simple.”
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