Before divorcing in 2006 after 17 years of wedlock, Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy had been apart. Jordan had to be frequently away from his family due to his physically demanding work.

Jordan’s relationship with Vanoy had grown contentious in the years preceding their divorce. She was upset with his philandering and believed that he wasn’t spending adequate time with his family. Jordan made Vanoy a promise in 2002 that he would be a “good father” and devote a lot more time to their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. His failure to honor his word, however, led to the breakdown of the relationship.

“I’ve been taking him to school, I can do all these fatherly things that my father did to me and you know spend more time with him”, Jordan said.

Following the separation, Jordan consented to pay Vanoy a $168 million payment, which at that point was the highest divorce compensation ever. Additionally, he consented to give her sole custody of their kids. Since then, Jordan has expressed sadness over how his marriage ended and his desire to spend additional time with his kids.

Jordan has worked to be an even more active father in the years since his divorce. He has accompanied his sons on holidays, brought them to sporting activities, and shown up at school functions. In addition, he has made public remarks about the value of parenthood and exhorted other fathers to spend time with their kids.

What does Jeffrey Jordan do?

Michael Jordan’s oldest son, Jeffrey Jordan, is a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. He co-founded the charitable organization Heir Jordan with his sibling Marcus Jordan and presently serves as the director of Jordan Brand’s digital innovation division.

Jordan opted to study at the University of Illinois, where he played for the Illinois Fighting Illini for two seasons. In his rookie and second seasons, he averaged just 1.1 and 0.9 points per game. Jordan played for a season at the University of Central Florida after transferring there after his sophomore year. He scored 3.2 points on average per game in his lone season at UCF.

Michael Jordan and Jeffrey Jordan (Image Credit: Alchetron & SI)

After college, Jeffrey Jordan held an internship with Nike. Later, after enrolling in the organization’s management training program, he was promoted to Jordan Brand’s head of digital innovation. In this position, he is in charge of coming up with fresh methods to interact with fans and customers through technology.

Jeffrey Jordan and his brother Marcus co-founded Heir Jordan in 2021. A charitable organization called Heir Jordan is dedicated to giving young adults opportunities for mentorship and education. To offer scholarships, training programs, and other resources, the organization has worked with several institutions and groups.

Anannya Mitra is an NBA writer at Sportmanor and an avid sports fan keen about sharing knowledge, research, and tales from the fascinating world of sports. She has been writing since a year and is currently pursuing B.Tech in computer science.

Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan (Credits – People.com and MARCA)

Life has its preplanned reality for everybody in the world. We all come across people who we meet and become extremely close to. Sometimes such friendships last forever while in other cases, people come and go to teach us a lesson. That’s the kind of friendship Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan shared ever since going pro in 1984.

Shortly after entering the NBA, Chuck and MJ would end up competing for Team USA together. They’ve fought several battles alongside each other and made many incredible runs together in the NBA. Jordan turned out to be the most successful of the two. Mainly because MJ dominated the playoffs during the 90s while Barkley always happened to be on the losing side of various scenarios. Despite their record against each other, Barkley has also had great success individually.

However, their friendship went on to last for over two and a half decades. Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan would appear on television shows together, play golf together or simply roast one another in front of the camera. While Jordan eventually branched out into the world of business, Chuck went on to work in sports entertainment. The two have been very successful in their respective fields as well.

Charles Barkley’s comments on the Hornets led Michael Jordan to sever their friendship

Charles Barkley is known for being brutally honest with people. Such individuals aren’t afraid to voice their opinions even if it would hurt others. However, this is ultimately what led Michael Jordan to sever their friendship. The former Phoenix Suns MVP forward once revealed that he confronted MJ for hiring his friends to high positions on the Charlotte Hornets. He said, “And what I said, I think that he don’t have enough people around him that are gonna tell him, ‘No.’” 

The 6x NBA Champion took offense to Charles’ comment because he felt that the latter wasn’t being a supportive friend. Barkley added, “I’m gonna do my job. Because I have zero credibility if I criticize other people in the same boat and not criticize my best friend.” Chuck felt that he did the right thing by looking out for Jordan, who had just bought the Hornets at the time.

Either way, Charles has previously stated that he is more than happy to welcome MJ back into his life. On the other hand, Michael Jordan recently sold the Hornets for a whopping $3 billion. Over the last ten years, Charlotte has not had too much success on the court. They’ve not made consistent playoff runs either which fans are hoping will turn around under the new ownership.