Michael Jordan Wasn’t Happy When Bulls Traded His Best Friend Charles Oakley To Knicks For Bill Cartwright: ‘I Felt We Were Giving Away Too Many Years By Trading A Young Rebounder For An Old Guy’

NBA legend Michael Jordan wasn’t happy when the Chicago Bulls traded Charles Oakley to the New York Knicks for Bill Cartwright in 1988. 

Jordan and Oakley were best friends. 

“He was like a brother to me,” Jordan said in 1997. “And I felt we were giving away too many years by trading a young rebounder for an old guy who hadn’t played a full season.”

Jordan wasn’t a fan of Cartwright at first. According to Scottie Pippen, Jordan told his Bulls teammates not to pass the ball to Cartwright in the last few minutes of games due to his bad hands. 

When Cartwright found out, he was “ready to kill” Jordan. 

“Bill, to put it mildly, didn’t appear to be the answer to our problems in the post,” Pippen wrote in his book. “He had bad hands, couldn’t spot open teammates when he was double-teamed, and was unable to keep up with our speed, the best in the league. 

“Michael wasn’t pleased. That also is putting it mildly. He told the rest of us to stop passing the ball to Bill in the last few minutes of a game. Bill was a smart guy. He saw what was going on. He was ready to kill Michael, and I didn’t blame him. ‘That motherf–ker,’ Bill said one day when Michael wasn’t around. ‘I don’t care what that f**ker says. Just get me the f–king ball.'”

Jordan and Cartwright eventually got on the same page and helped the Bulls win three straight NBA titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993. 

After winning his fifth ring in 1997, Jordan admitted he was wrong about the Oakley-Cartwright trade. 

“I was wrong with the Oakley-Bill Cartwright trade,” Jordan said. “I loved Charles Oakley. He was like a brother to me, and I felt we were giving away too many years by trading a young rebounder for an old guy who hadn’t played a full season. But in terms of what we were trying to get, he was the best. It was the best trade at the time. I still love Charles Oakley, and I loved having him on our team, but in terms of what Bill Cartwright brought to the team, he made a difference.”

Jordan and Oakley went from teammates to rivals. Oakley had no problem fouling Jordan hard when the Knicks and Bulls faced each other. The two teams met in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals and Oakley and Co. took a 2-0 series lead.

However, Jordan and the Bulls got the last laugh.

Jordan shot the ball poorly in Games 1-3 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. He shot 37.0% in Game 1, 37.5% in Game 2 and 16.7% in Game 3.

However, Jordan bounced back in a big way in Game 4, scoring 54 points on 60.0% shooting overall. 

The Bulls won Games 3-6 to advance to the 1993 NBA Finals. Jordan averaged 32.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.0 blocks against the Knicks in the 1993 conference finals, while Oakley put up 8.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

Chicago defeated the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals to capture its third straight title, with Jordan winning his third consecutive Finals MVP.