Michael Jordan talked about Charles Barkley’s irritating statement about destiny after the Bulls lost a game in the 1993 Finals to the Suns.
Despite the fact that Michael Jordan was portrayed as a ruthless dictator of sorts, a player who solely cared about winning and no one else outside of his team, the Bulls legend actually had a ton of friends within the NBA. Guys like Shaq and Magic were close with Jordan at different spots within their careers, amongst others around the league as well.
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Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan shared a great relationship as well. The friendship was based off of innate competitiveness from Jordan’s side but eventually blossomed into something genuine. After all, Jordan claims to have played golf with Chuck for the sole purpose of wanting to distract him from their 1993 NBA Finals bout and/or to learn anything from his upcoming opponent.
The two would also appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show together, showcasing how close they were with both ribbing on each other for the entirety of the show. Other forms of entertainment that featured Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley was of course, 1996’s Space Jam.
Michael Jordan had had enough of Charles Barkley’s ‘destiny’ monologue.
Both MVPs would face off against one another in the 1993 NBA Finals, a series that pitted the league’s best team record-wise, against the 2x defending champions. The Chicago Bulls would jump out to a commanding 3-1 lead in the series but after having lost Game 5, Michael Jordan was asked about how he felt when Chuck continually talked about destiny.
“He’s been telling me that crap ever since he’s been here. I mean, he’s got s different destiny than what we see it. We’re destined to win as much as he’s destined to win, and right now, we’re a game up on them. I don’t think any player is gonna be in a position where we are right now and think that we’re gonna lose.”
“Charles is a very positive thinker, and so are we. I understand his positive thinking but we’re here to say that his destiny is to have a long summer thinking about what he should have done or would have done.”
Michael Jordan came through on his promise as he finished off the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 off of 33 points to hold off the reigning league MVP’s 21 points and 17 rebounds, to capture his 3rd straight NBA championship.
