Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, and Charles Oakley was his best friend. In 2002, Oakley signed with the Wizards just to spend more time with Jordan.
The jordan wizards is a story about how Charles Oakley signed with the Wizards in 2002 just to spend more time with his best friend Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley have long been close pals. For his first three seasons in the NBA, he was teammates with the Hall of Famer on the Chicago Bulls, and the two have remained close ever since.
So, in 2002, when Oakley was choosing which club to join, he picked the Washington Wizards only because Jordan was already on the roster.
In 2002, Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley joined the Wizards as teammates.
The Washington Wizards’ Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley sit on the bench during a game against the Toronto Raptors in 2002 | Dave Sandford/Getty Images
Oakley is most known for his ten years as a member of the New York Knicks. The big man made his one and only All-Star appearance with the Knicks in 1994, and he enjoyed his most productive years in New York.
During his NBA career, though, Oakley also played for four other clubs. He was selected by the Bulls in 1985 and played with them for three seasons before joining the Knicks in 1988. After a decade in New York, Oakley spent three seasons with the Toronto Raptors, another with the Bulls, one with the Wizards, and the last year of his career with the Houston Rockets.
Oakley joined the Wizards in 2002 and reunited with Jordan for the second time. Washington finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs, but Oakley didn’t join the Wizards with championship aspirations.
Only to spend time with Michael Jordan, Charles Oakley joined the Wizards.
Oakley was 39 years old when he announced his retirement in 2002. He realized he wouldn’t be able to contribute to a contender in the same manner he has in the past, so he chose a different path with his free agency choice.
Oakley revealed in a recent interview with the Pardon My Take podcast that he joined the Wizards only to spend time with Jordan, whom he considers his closest buddy.
“That was simply for a stroll around the park and a boat trip,” Oakley said. “You know, take him to the game with you, take him on the aircraft with you.”
“That’s what they’re attempting to convey. He invited me in so that I could help Kwame with this and that. The MJ and Kwame tale had a lot of twists and turns, and they didn’t want to choose him, but they did, and they didn’t really want him. So, you know, it was great because the following year, it was his 40th birthday in DC, and I prepared for like 40 people twice in two nights.”
Today, they are still great friends.
On the show, Oakley also revealed that Jordan is still his closest buddy today. He claims the two play golfing together on a regular basis and speak nearly every day. Jordan chose to write the foreword for Oakley’s forthcoming book, “The Last Enforcer: Outrageous Stories From the Life and Times of One of the NBA’s Fiercest Competitors,” since the two are such close friends.
The anecdotes in his book, according to the former NBA player, are some of the best from his career that he’s never shared publicly. This could be interesting since he was Jordan’s teammate for a few seasons and spent a lot of time with him on and off the court.
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