Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have given NBA fans some of the best friendship moments. Despite being two of the best players in the league, the stars maintained an off-court friendship on good terms. One thing that remained intact and continued in their friendship was golf. What is even more hilarious is the fact that Berkeley, despite being bad at it, continued to play golf with his friend off the court. After his second retirement, Jordan continued to play golf with the Phoenix Suns legend. However, Barkley almost gave his friend a heart attack after he hit the golf ball as far as 103 yards into the people.
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Both Jordan and Barkley faced each other in the 1993 NBA finals and the former tried to trick his friend by gifting him a $20,000 earring in order to cool off Barkley’s edge on the court. From making fun of Michael on the court to Oprah Winfrey’s show, Charles and Michael had a friendship that people swore on.
Michael Jordan tried to cool down Charles Barkley with a $20,000 gift in the 1993 NBA Finals
Jordan was a competitor, and he did not leave any stone unturned in order to win. What he did before the 1993 NBA Finals against the Suns and Charles Barkley was not only a testament to his friendship with Chuck but also to his disease to win at all costs.
Barkley is one of the best to ever do it, and he was one of the top players in the Jordan era. The Bulls star knew that Chuckster would be a huge problem in winning his championship.
Despite the fact that he had an edge in terms of dominance and teamwork, he also knew Barkley was a monster on the court. In order to calm Barkley down, Michael played his card. He gifted his friend $20,000 in earrings as a way to ‘buy him off’ and take his edge off the Finals.
Fast forward, the Bulls won the series 4-3. However, Sir Charles gave everything he could and had an outstanding performance throughout the series. He averaged over 27 points and over 10 rebounds in the series.
Tiger Woods and Jordan criticized Charles Barkley’s golfing skills
Barkley is undoubtedly one of the greatest to do it. As good as he was at basketball, it can be said that he is fairly bad at golfing. Barkley is so bad at it that Tiger Woods, the golf legend. What makes Chuck’s golfing skills questionable is his hesitation swing. Even Jordan, when he was on Oprah’s show, made fun of his swing, which made the audience break into big laughter.
It is sad to see two of basketball’s greatest friends fall apart, as if history hadn’t witnessed their friendship. It would be a treat for the NBA fans and community to see old buddies make peace with each other and share laughter together.
