Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan were close friends for several years, playing together on Team USA in 1992 and then battling against each other in the 1993 Finals.
Barkley fell out of favor with Jordan, however, after criticizing some of Jordan's front office moves.
“We were great friends forever,” Barkley said of Jordan. “I miss Michael. I love Michael. I wish him nothing but the best. He’s the greatest basketball player ever. But obviously he didn’t take kindly to some things I said about his management skills. And that’s unfortunate. That’s unfortunate. But I’ve got to do my job …”
Wos Lambre said he found it hard to believe Barkley couldn't convince Jordan to reconcile.
“You know, you sound like some of my friends. That can’t happen because I didn’t do anything wrong. I would love to be friends with Michael ’cause, like I say, he was great to me for 20-some years and I love him like a brother. He was like a brother to me. But our last conversation, he was not very happy with some things I was saying about him on television. … My criticisms, No. 1, were fair …
“Don’t you have friends who you’re not sure how they’re gonna react when you’re honest with them? Especially somebody on his level. And like I say, hey, I love the dude. He’s the best I’ve ever seen. It’s unfortunate the way things went down. But I’m going to always try to do my job. And actually, my criticism was about the people around him. … I thought the people he hired around him were too many yes men. That was actually my statement, to be honest. I thought the people around him, they wanted the private jet. They wanted the steak dinner. They were always going to be yes men.”