LeBron James was a special guest on ‘New Heights’ this week.
The four-time NBA champion and all-time leading scorer appeared on Jason and Travis Kelce‘s award-winning podcast to discuss all manner of things.
At one stage in the conversation, Michael Jordan‘s legendary pickup games cropped up.
Following his 1998 retirement, the Chicago Bulls icon would host offseason summer workouts with fellow pros, collegiate standouts, or overseas players.
One of the players in attendance was a 16-year-old LeBron James, who was still in high school at the time.
Unfortunately, there are no clips of the scrimmages, and after years of speculation James has revealed the truth about what went down.
“First of all, MJ, Antoine Walker and the rest of those guys did not let young guys get on the court, at all,” James told the Kelces.
“And I was 16 years old. I was a sophomore in high school, and it takes a while to get on the court.
“Usually when the older guys, they get tired and they don’t want to play no more. … I was on the court with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, Michael Finley.”
James revealed that he was extremely nervous being around so many legends, but couldn’t wait to get on court and bust a**.
He eventually got on the same hardwood as MJ, and the Kelces asked who guarded him.
“Nobody. I was unguardable,” LeBron said.
Last year, former NBA star Antoine Walker remembered LeBron itching to get on court.
“I was watching MJ return to the court, with Ron Artest guarding him,” Walker went on.
“[Ron] Artest cracked Jordan’s rib just trying to defend him with the intensity that was required back then. I remember LeBron coming up there, but he couldn’t even get in a game. It was that competitive. Granted, he was young, around 16 or 17, but the competition was fierce. We were at UCLA, and there were 30 pros on the court.”
James grew up idolizing six-time champion Jordan and once recalled meeting his childhood idol for the first time.
He was so in awe of His Airness that he swore he was levitating.
“I think it was my junior year in high school I go up to Chicago and I go to a gym called Hoops where he plays basketball in the summertime,” The King remembered.
“I didn’t know he was going to be there. But I [saw] him walking towards me and it was kind of like he was walking on air. I had to pinch myself. Is that Michael? He was like Black Jesus to me.
James was already well-known in basketball circles around the country but was still some years away from being ordained as ‘The Chosen One’ by Sports Illustrated.
The Lakers star explained that he was in Chicago with close friend and manager Maverick Carter when he met his basketball hero again.
The year was 2001, two years before James was drafted by his hometown Cavaliers and right when MJ was contemplating returning to The Association with the Washington Wizards.
It was summertime and James was back in Chicago working out with established NBA stars like Anfernee ‘Penny’ Hardaway, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce, Jerry Stackhouse and Tim Hardaway.
At the end of the day, they noticed a red Ferrari coming down the street before stopping.
It was Michael Jordan.
“Ho-lee s***,” Maverick Carter said.
“LeBron froze, staring at Jordan as he stepped out of the car and walked toward them. LeBron had never seen his idol up close. It looked as though he were levitating,” Jeff Benedict wrote in his book ‘LeBron’.
The group spent some time in the weight room and listened as Jordan told stories about the NBA.
LeBron was like a sponge and nodded along while trying to take it all in.
“It was like listening to God speak,” Carter said.
“Nobody told me that Mike lifted before he played,” James later recalled.
“We walk up there, and the first person I see is Charles Oakley.”
James said he ‘dapped up’ the former New York Knicks enforcer before noticing Mike.
“Then Oak moved, and when he moves, Mike is sitting on the bench press,” LeBron went on.
“I was like, ‘Oh my f***ing God,” James said.
“I didn’t think it was real, man. You don’t understand. I didn’t think Michael Jordan was real. I only thought he lived in the TV. When I saw him, I was like, if the man above would have taken me that day, I would’ve lived a hell of a life, I swear to God.”
From that point on, James and Jordan’s relationship remained respectful but distant.
But at the 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland, James and Jordan’s paths crossed again as they were recognized for the NBA’s 75th anniversary season.
James made the winning shot in the game, a fadeaway jumper he said was inspired by Michael Jordan.
He wasn’t about to let the opportunity to meet his childhood idol pass him by, and the pair embraced in a short but powerful moment.
“I did not want to lose the opportunity to shake the man’s hand that inspired me throughout my childhood,” James said.
“I haven’t had much dialogue with him in my 20 years or 19 years in this business, but part of me wouldn’t be here without MJ’s inspiration. I always wanted to be like him growing up.
“It’s crazy that the game-winning shot tonight was a fadeaway, and it was inspired by MJ,” he went on.
“The way he wore his shoes, the way he wore his uniform, I mean, all the way down to some of the cars that he drove, how much he inspired me. I didn’t want to waste that opportunity because we’re just not in — we’re not in the same building a lot and haven’t been in the same building a lot throughout my career. It meant something to me.”
