It seems like Chris Webber and Jalen Rose might on their way to a reconciliation.
Earlier this week, after Webber was named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 2021 Class, he appeared on ESPN and was interviewed by Rose and Maria Taylor.
“I love you my brother. Congratulations,” Rose said. “You made it to the Hall of Fame. Well deserved.”
“Jalen Anthony Rose, it’s crazy, man,” Webber said. “And thank God for your beautiful, wonderful mother, cause you know what she did for me.” Rose’s mother, Jeanne, died in February due to lung cancer.
It was the first public or private interaction between the two childhood friends and ‘Fab Five’ teammates in several years and, according to Webber, he didn’t know it was going to happen.
“I didn’t know he was going to interview me… Everything I said on there I meant… It was a great moment. But we still need to get in a room and talk.”
–@RealChrisWebber on talking to Jalen Rose on ESPN the other day pic.twitter.com/2AKvNNBOzP
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) May 20, 2021
“I didn’t know he was going to interview me,” Webber said Thursday on The Dat Patrick Show. “Thought Maria was. … He knows, we got to go into a room and talk, fight, wrestle, something. … That was the first time we talked. It was an awesome moment.”
Webber and Rose grew up as childhood friends in Detroit before both starred on the local prep scene. They then starred together on the iconic ‘Fab Five’ team at Michigan before both had long NBA careers.
The relationship, though, fractured after the Ed Martin scandal. In 2003, Webber pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal contempt and admitted to giving $38,200 Martin, a prominent Michigan booster, in 1994 as partial loan repayment. This led to the Wolverines have to forfeit wins from Webber’s two seasons and Final Four banners being taken down. More recently, Webber declined to participate in a Fab Five reunion and in the 30 for 30 documentary about the team that Rose produced for ESPN — Webber is working on his own documentary on the team currently.
“It was a moment of ‘whoa, I haven’t talked to you in a while,’”, Webber said. “… No matter how it happened, I appreciated the moment, I appreciated being able to share that with all of Detroit, having Jalen do the interview, but yeah we didn’t talk (beforehand), but it wasn’t awkward.”
“Hopefully it’s a start,” Patrick responded.
“Yeah,” Webber said.