Charles Barkley opens up about what led to Michael Jordan and him not talking for 10 years

Charles Barkley is one of the most renowned faces in sports broadcasting. He along with Shaquille O’Neil, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson are part of “Inside the NBA,” which is one of the best basketball programmes in the United States. Prior to making it to television, Charles Barkley was a legendary basketball player. He was an MVP and a key part of the 1992 Dream Team that won the Gold medal.

He had many friends in the NBA, but one of his closest mates was Michael Jordan. The two often locked horns on the court and went at it, but outside the game, they shared a great bond. After their successful careers, both went different ways but continued their camaraderie. However, after Barkley criticised Jordan about his ownership abilities with the Charlotte Hornets on television, things went downhill between the two.

Charles Barkley recently spoke about his equation with MJ on NFL legend, Tom Brady’s podcast. In his most recent interview with Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks, the Hall of Famer once again re-iterated what led to them not having spoken for 10 years.

“Its a really unfortunate situation for me and him, but you know I’m gonna do my job first and foremost, cause I can’t criticise other coaches and managers and give him a pass because he’s my best friend, I just can’t do that. And what I said was, I wasn’t sure I said, ” Michael’s gotta surround himself with better people,” and I said I worry about him being successful because when you’re a star, specially him,

Cause he’s the biggest star I’ve ever been around, everybody around you is gonna tell you what you wanna hear and I didn’t think he had a good enough supporting cast around him in the front office to be successful and I said that and had no problem saying, cause it was the truth and he took offence and called me and it wasn’t a pleasant conversation and we haven’t spoken since.”

Charles Barkley’s career in television has been stellar

Charles Barkley was a fearless competitor on the court. He carried that onto his television career and is still one of the most critical analysts in the game. Inside the NBA is one of the best TV programmes for various reasons. However, one of them is how real the legends on the show keep it with teams and players.

Barkley and Shaq’s banter is absolutely fun to watch. Both leave no chance to embarrass each other and this leaves the audience in splits almost every time. Charles Barkley recently signed a lucrative deal with Turner Sports, which will see him be a part of the show for 10 more years. There were rumors that he would soon retire, but him signing the contract has put all of those to rest.