Michael Jordan never forgets. This is something the great Charles Barkley learned in the many years he played against the Chicago Bulls legend during their time in the NBA.
Barkley recently opened up about why he hated losing to Jordan:
“It was difficult because if you lose to him, No. 1, you’re never going to hear the end of it,” Barkley said, via Dan Santaromita of NBC Sports Chicago. “Listen, there’s no other person, as great as he was, in my life that I wanted to beat more in basketball because when you lose to him you gotta hear about it everyday for the rest of your life.”
Jordan's trash talking is legendary, and there's no doubt that Barkley was on the receiving end of the same on more than a few occasions. Barkley himself is pretty outspoken, so there is little doubt that the war of words between this pair was epic.
Unfortunately for Barkley, he was on the wrong end more often than not. Barkley lost to Jordan's Bulls in the playoffs twice in a row as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, and then he came up short in the 1993 NBA Finals as Chicago finished off its first three-peat.
Barkley went on to explain how this all is actually yet another manifestation of Jordan's insane competitive nature. This feature of MJ's character puts him above all the rest:
“I think that’s what made him the GOAT,” Barkley said. “He takes everything personally.”
That's quite a statement there for Barkley. It is worth noting, however, that these two still aren't the best of friends at the moment. Barkley recently detailed the exact moment their friendship broke down. As he said above, MJ does have a tendency to take things too personally, and the GOAT can be extremely petty.
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