Michael Jordan and LeBron James are the two best players in NBA history, regardless of the order that you want to put them in. These two have been compared and pitted against each other non-stop, and fans don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. While some want them to be mortal enemies, most people know that they have a high level of respect and appreciation for each other.
As we saw during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game, James and Jordan are on great terms, which appears to be the case since they played together when LeBron was still a teenager. An old interview from 2020 showed Bron recalling his runs with Jordan, playing pickup games with him while attending his Santa Barbara camp.
Talking on Uninterrupted two years ago, the King revealed he never lost a game while playing with Jordan, while also recalling that His Airness hit a game-winner and trash-talked the competition, saying that’s why they paid him $33 million.
Bron says he got to play pickup against MJ when he was 16 years old.
MJ hit the game-winner and reportedly said "That's why they pay me $33M to do this." 😤
(via @uninterrupted) https://t.co/U6Kpn2qElS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 19, 2020
“Antoine Walker was talking so much s**t back and forth. They didn’t let me play for the first hour. I am sitting there and waiting my turn. I didn’t even think I’d get the opportunity to play. The only reason I got to play is because the guys in the league, after a few hours, some of them get tired.”
“They’re like ‘yeah I am done with this sh*t. Young fella, we need a fifth, you wanna play? For me to be 16 years old and a sophomore in high school, playing with my favorite player of all time. It was like, this can’t be real. If you pinched me, I would be like I hope I don’t wake up.”
“We would stay along with the college kids that he’d invite to the camp and we would get a good ass run in for about an hour, hour 15. I was on a team with MJ and we didn’t lose a game.”
As usual, NBA fans had something to say about this, and back in the day, they had a lot of material to trash either Jordan or LeBron. Others, however, praised both players, saying that a team with them both was unbeatable.
Remember a couple weeks ago when LeBron fans coulda sworn LeBron bodied MJ in that pickup?
Just another lie spread around by LeBron fans
— Miguel Jordán (@PettyAirJordan) May 19, 2020
That settles it. Jordan=🐐
— Darth Vader Burner (@darthVburner) May 19, 2020
Man skip bayless bout to go crazy 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
— Him-Othy (@JayyGenuine_) May 19, 2020
Ok.. so that settles it. MJ better.
— Alan (@AlanInRaleigh) May 19, 2020
Could you imagine matching up against the best player in the world at just 16yrs old….different
— UndressTheJersey (@UndressTheJerse) May 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/Quintssential/status/1262560464870965253
— 🇺🇸Bellanca🇺🇸 (@C_Bellanca) May 19, 2020
— RocketsTX (@RocketsTX) May 19, 2020
But twitter made it seem like Jordan was the one who lost lol
— Brian Sporman (@BrianSporman) May 19, 2020
Wish we had footage
— CAP_STAR🍁🇩🇯🇮🇱🇺🇦🇦🇲 (@hardcapperr) May 19, 2020
GOAT talk pic.twitter.com/sHKjyUrucE
— Uno (@UziWalkerr) May 19, 2020
Any team with both MJ and LeBron is going to destroy people
— not_a_clever_username8000 (@mikekelly6301) May 19, 2020
The world needs this footage https://t.co/h99ZE8Yj71
— Berry🦁 (@berryyy_7) July 11, 2022
🤷🏾♂️ two 🐐’s on a team we already know they anit losing https://t.co/LVFBaD4lhN
— 30 grandes ent 💙 (@BigD45_17) May 19, 2020
Imagine you stretching getting ready to play some pick up ball and then hear your teammate say…
“Ay, we up… you wanna guard MJ or LeBron??” https://t.co/ozdDJywTep pic.twitter.com/sMVNB2DG62
— Andrew Hawkins (@Hawk) May 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/KingMcElvy/status/1262594699619184642
Mike played in this game and thought “I’m just goin stay retired, this kid is gonna demolish me” 😂 https://t.co/w9GMizMICo
— Niajel Watson (@Network_Mamba) July 11, 2022
This is just amazing
"We didn't lose a game" it was rookie LeBron and a then retired MJ
Now imagine them in their primes together 😭😭 https://t.co/7k6gTyyJYK
— ✊🏾 (@GoatedFlyer) May 19, 2020
LeBron and MJ on the same team. Wtf that’s literally not fair 😂😂😂😂😂 https://t.co/apEnaWgKc9
— that guy (@ProspektKendall) May 19, 2020
Unfortunately, we’ll never get to see footage of these duels, but according to James and those who witnessed them, it was great to see these two going at it. It’ll be hard to see them competing on the same court again, but at least we have the chance to imagine how LeBron and Jordan competed at the same time, at the same place, because it actually happened.
