A longstanding freeze between NBA Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley appears to be thawing, with Barkley saying the two are set to get together for a golf game in the offseason.
"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."
Jordan became the majority owner of the Bobcats in 2006. He sold his stake, while retaining a minority share, in the renamed Charlotte Hornets in 2023 for an approximately $3 billion valuation.
Jordan hasn't publicly commented on the planned get-together, and Barkley, a longtime analyst on "Inside the NBA," downplayed the level of animosity between the two.
"We're not like Prince William and Prince Harry. We always have a lot of love for each other," Barkley told Sirius XM. "But we talked in the last 72 hours. We just decided to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over."
