Michael Jordan and LeBron James will forever be etched in history. The two are arguably the best ever to play this game. Jordan dominated the 80s and the 90s, whereas LeBron James has been doing the same during the 2000s, 2010s, and now aiming to do so in the 2020s.
Between them, the two players have won 10 NBA Championships. In fact, Between 1990 to 2020, Jordan and LeBron James were involved in half of the NBA Finals, with Jordan going to 6, and LeBron going to 10. The two have dominated the NBA landscape throughout their respective careers.
LeBron grew up watching and idolizing LeBron James. LeBron was born just a few months after Michael Jordan made his debut in the NBA. By the time LeBron James was 6, Jordan won his first NBA championship.
And by the time Jordan was ready to walk away from the game for good, LeBron was a plucky 17-year-old who was making waves throughout the country as the best high school basketball player, and a future superstar in the making.
But just a few months before Jordan retired and LeBron declared himself for the NBA Draft in 2003, LeBron and Jordan crossed paths. As described by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, their meeting was actually quite friendly and cordial.
The two met when Jordan and the Wizards came to Cleveland in 2003 to play the Cavaliers. Jordan arrived sporting his signature suits. LeBron was in the hallways and greeted Jordan very well. Despite knowing each other on a casual level, both greeted each other like they had known each other for a long time.
Jordan asked LeBron how his mother was and where she was, to which he gave a quick response. Later, Jordan and LeBron were having a conversation about basketball, when Jordan gave LeBron some valuable advice from his own experience and arsenal of moves on the court.
He told LeBron to use one dribble, and then pull up for a shot, telling him that he wanted to see LeBron use that move in the near future. Thrilled at meeting his hero, LeBron responded by saying “that’s my guy”.
Resplendent in a sleek navy blue suit, his burnished dome gleaming in the light, Michael Jordan steps into the tunnel of Cleveland’s Gund Arena, flashes a million-watt smile and gives LeBron James, the top high school player in the country, a warm, we’re-old-pals handshake. “Where’s Mama?” Jordan asks.
“She’s in New Orleans,” LeBron says, grinning at the memory of how well his mother, Gloria, had gotten on with Jordan when they met in Chicago last summer.
It’s 10 p.m. on the last night of January, and the moment feels charged, even a little historic. Remember that photograph of a teenaged Bill Clinton meeting JFK? Same vibe. Here, together, are His Airness and King James, the 38-year-old master and the 17-year-old prodigy, the best of all time and the high school junior whom some people–from drooling NBA general managers to warring shoe company execs to awestruck fans–believe could be the Air Apparent.
Jordan has just hit another buzzer-beater to sink the Cavaliers, but another game is afoot. A spectacularly gifted 6’7″, 225-pound guard who averages 29.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists for St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron, LeBron is thought to possess all the elements necessary to do for some apparel company what Jordan did for Nike. Not only does he have the requisite high-flying game and an Iversonian street cred that Jordan himself lacked, but he can also turn on the charm when necessary. It’s why LeBron is a year from signing what’s expected to be the most lucrative shoe deal in history for an NBA rookie, estimated at $20 million over five years, and why Jordan, who represents his own division of Nike athletic wear, would want LeBron in the Swoosh family.
Tonight, however, LeBron is wearing a black coat and stocking cap bearing the logo of Adidas, his high school team’s sponsor, which Jordan can’t help but notice yet chooses to ignore. They schmooze for a few minutes, bantering about LeBron’s upcoming game, until Jordan leaves, offering this piece of advice: “One dribble, stop and pull up. That’s what I want to see.”
LeBron nods and smiles. “That’s my guy,” he says.
This meeting wouldn’t end up being the only one. Jordan and LeBron met a few times later as well. In fact, once LeBron was photographed with Michael Jordan, while also being surrounded by Kobe Bryant, Moses Malone, and Carmelo Anthony, in what is one of the greatest photos in NBA history.
While LeBron was one of the most hyped prospects in basketball history at the time, few could have predicted his success in the league. The expectation for James was to be the heir apparent to Michael Jordan and to match him as one of the greatest of all time.
And while the degree of his success compared to Jordan is always up for debate, there is no doubt that LeBron lived up to the massive expectations placed on his shoulder.
