Many basketball fans enjoy debating who was better between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. But when James himself fantasizes about playing with Jordan it’s as his teammate, not his adversary.
“Me personally the way I play the game — team first — I feel like my best assets work perfectly with Mike,” James said in a video on Uninterrupted’s YouTube Channel released Monday. “Mike is an assassin. When it comes to playing the game of basketball, scoring the way he scored the ball (then) my ability to pass, my ability to read the game plays and plays and plays in advance.”
James, who grew up a Chicago Bulls fan, was invigorated by watching Jordan in the “The Last Dance” over the last five weeks. He said he’s thought about playing his patented point forward role alongside Jordan, the game’s greatest shooting guard, and how they could’ve blended so well together.
Someone find the footage of this scrimmage with LeBron and MJ. pic.twitter.com/oapWDVWw0q
— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) March 17, 2020
“I saw the things (Scottie Pippen) was able to do with Mike, I just think it would’ve been a whole ‘nother level,” James said. “Pip was one of my favorite players…it would’ve been a whole ‘nother level with me being a point forward with me being that point forward alongside of him during those Chicago runs.
James met Jordan and played in a pickup game with him when he was just 16 years old in 2001 as Jordan was preparing to make his final comeback — “The dude looked like Jesus Christ to me. He was Black Jesus to me,” James said of that experience — but didn’t play on the same team that day at Hoops Gym in Chicago.
Two years later James did get a chance to play on the same team with Jordan. James had just been drafted as the No. 1 overall pick and signed an $87 million deal with Nike. He was invited to take part in Jordan’s annual summer camp at UC-Santa Barbara.
“We used to play around 9 p.m. The camp would end..and we would stay along with the college kids that he would invite,” James remembered. “We would get a good-ass run in for about an hour, an hour-15. I was on the same team with MJ and we didn’t lose a game.”
James has played on a few teams with older veteran leaders, namely the 2008 Olympic Team with Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd and his years in Miami with Dwyane Wade. James said Jordan’s sometimes abrasive leadership style — he punched teammates Steve Kerr and Will Purdue during practices — would’ve been embraced.
“I love when a teammate comes to me and challenges me,” James said. “When I was in Miami, (Dwyane Wade) used to come to be and be like ‘alright (No.) 6, let’s go.’ (Cavs coach) (Ty) Lue used to challenge me a lot when I was in Cleveland. He was like ‘alright Bron, what you waiting on?’ I see that from Mike and I feel like our games were a perfect correlation to be successful.”
James also revealed he began to “train to be a football player” in 2011 during last NBA lockout, with business partner Maverick Carter weighing in that James was gifted a contract from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that is framed and displayed in James’ office.
“Myself and my trainer, we really started to actually train to be a football player when it came to like October and November,” James said. “We started to clock our times with the 40’s. We started to add a little bit more in our bench presses and things of that nature.”
“The thoughts came into my mind. Never having the ability to finish my high school career playing my Senior year I have dreams all the time about playing football.”
