It looks like the long-standing beef between former NBA players Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan will never end.
According to TMZ, the Inside The NBA analyst was a guest on 97.5 The Fanatic where he spilled that he was not going to reconcile with the basketball legend any time soon.
“I love the guy like a brother,” Barkley said over the phone to host Mike Missanelli about a recent run-in with his former friend. “We bumped into each other. He treated me great, I think I treated him great, but our relationship hasn’t been the same since I criticized him on his business. You know me…I’mma always do my job. He did not take it well. We shook hands, we said hello and that was it”
As for apologizing to Jordan on air, as suggested by fellow analyst Kenny Smith…well, don’t count on it.
“That’s not gonna happen, number one,” assured Barkley, who continued to discuss Jordan’s sensitivity. “He thinks that if you’re his friend, just like most jobs do, that if you’re my friend, you don’t ever…these guys all got thin skin today…we’re trying to do our job! What do you want us to say? It gets frustrating. I actually didn’t think what I said was that bad to be honest with you.”
A few years ago, Barkley had a few words to say about the way Air Jordan ran the Charlotte Bobcats, and sadly, he took it very personally.
“…Part of my job sucks sometimes when I have to criticize people I like or a friend,” said Barkley about the rift in their friendship after the comments. “And what I said about Michael, which was that he had to do a better job of putting people around him because I thought he had too many people around him that just did what he said to do, and he took it personal.”
Listen to the full interview here.