Nah, they were definitely friends. MJ and Barkley used to golf and gamble together all the time. Way past they were done with their playing careers.Jordan never really gave a fukk about charles barkley
They wasn't friends, Jordan associated with Barkley because back when he was relevant, the average young person knew of him, still getting national commercials and shyt, it made business sense. Thats how he got him to be in space jam. Barkley just a talking head now and is of no use to MJ. thats all.
He's worth a billion dollars he can make friends with anybody in the entire world if he wanted to. He could hang out on a yatch with Kim Jung Un if he wanted. He's not concerned about some old acquaintance he knew back in the day.
Source: Steve Smith