Charles Barkley laments broken relationship with Michael Jordan

It appears that Charles Barkley's broken relationship with Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan won't be fixed any time soon. The duo's relationship deteriorated years ago after Barkley's comments regarding the way Jordan ran the Charlotte Bobcats franchise.

In reality, Barkley is actually upset that his relationship with Jordan probably won't be mended, but he acknowledged he's one of the greatest basketball players to ever lace them up.

"The guy was like a brother to me for, shoot, 20-something years," Barkley said on Tuesday's Waddle and Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. "At least 20-something years. And I do, I feel sadness. But to me he's still the greatest basketball player ever. I wish him nothing but the best. But, there's nothing I can do about it, brother."

As for what Barkley said that upset Jordan, it was along the lines of "if he continues to hire his best friends, then he'll never be successful as a general manager." Which, to be honest, makes total sense, so Barkley wasn't wrong on that front.

The former Philadelphia 76er and current Inside the NBA analyst provided some insight as to why he's critical of Jordan, and just about everyone for that matter. 

"Listen, if you're famous, and Michael at one point was the most famous person in the world, everybody around you is either on the payroll or letting you buy drinks and dinner and flying around on your private jet. Very few of your friends are going to be honest with you. And that's very hard for any celebrity, but especially somebody of his stature.

"But I thought that was one of the reasons we were great friends. Like, 'I can ask Charles anything and I know he's going to give me a straight answer.' But part of my job [as an analyst] is, because I can't go on TV and say 'Another general manager sucks' and then just because Michael's like a brother to me say 'He's doing a fantastic job.' That would be disingenuous."

Obviously being a broadcaster means you're going to have to say some things that will probably upset people, but part of the job is being critical ... and that's why Barkley is good at what he does.

Barkley was in the NBA from 1984-99 and spent time with the 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets. He's a Hall of Famer, 11-time All-Star and averaged 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game during his long career.

If there's any hope of salvaging his relationship with Jordan, he may have to be the one to reach out first and apologize for the comments he made, but that doesn't seem likely at this point.