Chicago Bulls: 3 most unlikable Michael Jordan rivals

2) Unlikable Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls rivals: Charles Barkley

The inclusion of the former Phoenix Suns Hall-of-Fame and one-time MVP winning forward Charles Barkley is largely due to the way he was received by Bulls, and Jordan fans, during his playing days in the NBA. Jordan was slighted behind both Barkley and the Houston Rockets legendary big man Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1992-93 MVP voting.

Both Olajuwon and Barkley finished ahead of Jordan in the MVP voting that season. And Jordan wasn’t that far ahead of Patrick Ewing in MVP voting shares that year either. Despite Jordan finishing with more points per game, assists, steals, better box plus/minus rating, player efficiency rating, and win shares, than both of those former NBA superstars, he finished third in the voting.

It was that type of slighting that could clearly anger Jordan and the Bulls fan base. Barkley also put up a good fit against Jordan and the Bulls, when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns, in the 1993 NBA Finals. But Barkley and the Suns would ultimately fall short in Jordan’s final NBA Championship before trying his hand playing baseball in the mid-1990’s.

Barkley was also another one of the few players that, over the course of his NBA career, that held a winning record over Jordan in the regular season (19-20 for MJ). But Jordan ruled this rivalry in the playoffs, mostly when the “Round Mound of Rebound” was a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, to the tune of a 12-4 record.