In 2010, LeBron James changed the NBA forever. In what was considered an unprecedented move, James teamed up with his close friends and fellow 2003 NBA Draft classmates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, joining the Miami Heat after spending 7 difficult years in Cleveland. The move was criticized by many in the NBA, as it looked like James was taking the easy way out in his pursuit of an NBA championship.
One person who seemingly had a neutral point of view was James’ idol Michael Jordan. Jordan was asked about James’ move, whether it was good for basketball or not. MJ responded that while he would not have done what LeBron did, he doesn’t think LeBron was wrong, as players in the current generation have opportunities that players in his era didn’t, and it is okay for them to take those chances (1:50 onwards).
“That’s yet to be determined. Free agency is a part of every professional sport. How that’s going to play into this scenario, I don’t know, time will tell. There’s no way I would have called up Larry and called up Magic and said ‘hey, let’s get together and play on one team’. But things are different, I can’t say that’s a bad thing, that’s the opportunity kids have today. I was trying to beat those guy, I don’t know if they would have been on my team. If you look at the dream team, they were on my team and it wasn’t too much of competitive thing. I’m a competitive guy and I like to play against competitive players and see what happens from there.”
Jordan, who at this point had become an owner of an NBA franchise, had a different perspective on free agency, and the decisions players made. As a team owner, free agency would allow Jordan to get his hands on players that he may not have had the assets to acquire through trade. But at the same time, MJ did note that he wouldn’t have teamed up with his contemporaries in an effort to win.
Jordan never lobbied to have superstar free agents join the Chicago Bulls, and made it work with what he had. But it is worth noting that Jordan played under one of the greatest general managers in Jerry Krause. While their relationship was strained for most of their time together, there is no denying that Krause put MJ in a position where he never had to consider leaving to team up with another star to try and win.
