When a picture of a young LeBron facing off against MJ surfaced on the internet earlier this month, the NBA community got to work digging up any intel they can on what happened. Did James dominate or did Michael show who was boss?
Someone find the footage of this scrimmage with LeBron and MJ. pic.twitter.com/oapWDVWw0q
— ThrowbackHoops (@ThrowbackHoops) March 17, 2020
We finally got some answers on Tuesday evening as former league veteran, Metta World Peace, described the encounter in detail on Instagram live.
“LeBron at 15-years old was killing it. But nobody at that age could give MJ a run for his money. MJ would have averaged 35 if I didn’t break his ribs. He averaged 25 and he had to sit out 3 months…at 38 years old. LeBron was definitely killing it. He was big and strong and they couldn’t guard him.”
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1242334641350008833
Obviously, we’ll never know the full story of what happened that day. It seems the footage got lost somehow.
But Metta’s testimony is the second-best thing. Even at such a young age, Bron’s sheer strength and athleticism made it almost impossible to guard him. Even for MJ, it must’ve been a challenge — especially at 38.
Nowadays, Bron is on the other side of things. At 35, he’s having to face against guys like Zion and Luka. Hopefully this time, we’ll remember to save the footage…
