If you try and think of NBA players who love their golf, you won’t get too far down your list without naming both Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan.
Jordan is an avid golfer and has played to a good level for some time, often rubbing shoulders with the elites of golf like Tiger Woods and more.
As for Charles Barkley, he’s also a well known lover of the sport of golf. And while Barkley might be better known for his very unorthodox swing, he has proved himself more than capable of getting around the course over the years.
Of course, Barkley and Jordan’s love for golf was always going to bring them together at some point.
And ahead of the NBA finals in 1993, Jordan seized his moment on the golf course to try and get into the head of his rival.
Charles Barkley
Copyright 1999 Getty Images
Michael Jordan’s $20,000 ‘bribe’ to Charles Barkley
Barkley has countless stories about Jordan and himself on the golf course and a lot of the time, they centre around Barkley losing money in some way or another to MJ.
However, ahead of the NBA finals in 1993, Barkley was the winner for once. At least, in a roundabout way.
With Jordan’s Bulls playing Barkley’s Suns for the NBA title, Jordan used their time on the golf course prior to the games to effectively try and pay off Barkley.
The story goes that Jordan bought Barkley a $20,000 diamond earring in the hope that he’d get a free run during game four of said finals series.
As told by former Bulls coach Johnny Bach, Jordan had a plan.
“The day before game 4 of the Bulls Suns finals with the Bulls leading the series 2-1. Michael and Charles Barkley went golfing. They played 48 holes of golf. And Michael bought Charles a $20,000 diamond earring,” Bach revealed during The Last Dance.
“Johnny asked MJ, “what did you do all that for?” Michael responded, “he won’t get in my way the rest of the series, what’s $20,000 to me? Charles thinks we’re great friends. I hate that fat f—..”
Sure enough, Barkley accepted the gift and in game four, Jordan scored 55 points en route to helping the Bulls to their first three-peat.
Quite whether Barkley intentionally kept his distance and had an ‘off night’ on purpose, only he will know.
But for MJ, it seems very much like his plan worked to perfection.
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