Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan reconnect, schedule offseason golf game
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April 19, 2026 — NBA Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have spoken for the first time in nearly 15 years and plan to play golf together once the current basketball season ends, Barkley said Friday on Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Unleashed.”
“We had a conversation,” Barkley told the program. “We’re going to get together and play golf as soon as basketball is over.”
The relationship fractured in 2012 after Barkley, during an ESPN Chicago radio interview, criticized Jordan’s stewardship of the then-Charlotte Bobcats. Barkley argued that Jordan had not surrounded himself with advisers willing to challenge his decisions, saying, “He has not done a great job, plain and simple.”
Jordan bought majority control of the Bobcats in 2006. The franchise, later renamed the Charlotte Hornets, was valued at roughly $3 billion when he sold his controlling stake in 2023, retaining a minority share.
Barkley, now a long-time analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” has repeatedly expressed regret over the silence between the two former Olympic and NBA teammates. While Jordan has not publicly addressed the renewed contact, Barkley suggested any ill will had been overstated. “We’re not like Prince William and Prince Harry. We always have a lot of love for each other,” he said.
Barkley added that the pair’s recent discussion occurred “in the last 72 hours,” clearing the way for their first personal meeting since the 2012 fallout.
Source: ESPN
