After 14 long years of side-eyes, silence, and probably a few not-so-friendly TV comments, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have finally decided, yes, let’s be friends again.
And how do rich, competitive, Hall-of-Fame legends celebrate peace? Of course golf, because nothing says “we’ve healed” like arguing over a missed putt on Hole 7.
According to Barkley, the two have talked things out. No drama, no yelling. Just two grown men deciding that holding a grudge for over a decade is exhausting.
“We had a conversation,” Barkley told Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Unleashed” on Friday. “We’re going to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over.”
Nearly 15 years of silent treatment began in 2012 when Barkley, in an interview on ESPN Chicago radio, was critical of Jordan’s performance as owner of the then-Charlotte Bobcats, implying the Chicago Bulls great hadn’t hired enough people who had the courage to disagree with his decisions on how to handle the franchise.
“I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job,” Barkley said at the time. “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.”
Barkley had expressed disappointment in the past about the rift between the two. Speaking in 2020 around the airing of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” on the end of the Bulls dynasty, Barkley told ESPN 1000 of Jordan: “Oh, he got my number. He can call me.”
Still, there’s something oddly nice about this. Two icons deciding to let it go, no press conference, no dramatic apology tour. Just a quiet “we’re good now” and a tee time.
Simple, mature and slightly suspicious, because let’s be honest: if your friendship depends on a golf game with Michael Jordan, you’re basically playing emotional roulette.
But for now, peace is officially restored, the beef is cooked, served, and cleared off the table until someone misses a putt.
