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Charles Barkley won't apologize to Michael Jordan, says Nerlens Noel should shut up

Back in 2012, Charles Barkely and fellow Hall of Famer Michael Jordan had a falling out.

According to Barkley, Jordan stopped speaking to him after over 30 years of friendship after the TNT analyst and former Sixers great criticized the way he ran the then-Charlotte Bobcats, saying on ESPN radio, "I love Michael, but he just has not done a good job."

Over the years, Barkley has said things have gotten better between him and his former friend. They even appeared to publicly squash their personal feud by hugging it out following the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame ceremony back in October.

But Barkley told 97.5 The Fanatic's Mike Missanelli Wednesday that the public thaw wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

"We bumped into each other. He treated me great, I think I treated him great, but our relationship hasn't been the same since I criticized him on his business," Barkley told Missanelli. "You know me … I'm a always do my job. He did not take it well. We shook hands, we said hello and that was it."

Barkley's TNT colleague Kenny Smith suggested to Barkley that he apologize to Jordan on the air. But if Jordan is expecting anything remotely along the lines of an "I'm sorry," Barkley says he shouldn't hold his breath.

"That's not going to happen, number one," Barkley told Missanelli. "These guys all got thin skin today. … We're trying to do our job! What do you want us to say? It gets frustrating at times. I actually didn't think what I said was that bad, to be honest with you."

Barkley also spoke to Missanelli about Sixers center Nerlens Noel, who the team can't seem to figure out what to do with.

As the Inquirer's Keith Pompey reported, Noel was taken out of the rotation on Sunday after he public criticized his lack of playing time, only to be put back in on Tuesday amid chants from the crowd to "Put Nerlens in!" and "We want Nerlens … we want Nerlens!"

"He needs to just shut the hell up because he ain't proving anything," Barkley said, ignoring the current logjam at center and noting that Noel is athletic enough to play around the perimeter.

"If he was playing well, they'd play him more than eight minutes," Barkley said. "If he just goes to practice and kick their butts, they've got to play him at some point."

Listen to Missanelli's full interview with Barkley here.