Spike Lee and Tyrese Haliburton appeared with Tommy Alter on the Young Man and the Three podcast, where they spoke about Denzel Washington and his role in the upcoming movie ‘Highest 2 Lowest’, which was directed by the Knicks superfan Lee himself.
While discussing Washington’s greatness and versatility, Alter asked Lee if he saw any similarities between Denzel Washington and the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Lee went first and brought up an instance from their previous collaboration, ‘He Got Game’, a sports drama movie co-starring Ray Allen, to explain his point.
“Here’s the thing. You can be born with talent, but if you put the work in, we have a scene, and he got game. It’s a flashback when Denzel is on the court at Coy Island with this young Jesus, and they’re going up the court, says ‘me, you, and Mike, the only people up.’
“They must have been sleeping. Why did I write that? Because I know Michael Jordan’s work ethic was epic. I’m not just talking about practice. He’s beating motherf**ers up in practice,” said Lee while hailing Jordan’s work ethic and saying it is similar to Washington’s.
“He did not come out of the womb dunking,” joked Lee as he digressed into talking about the hospital in his neighborhood where Michael Jordan was born.
“Yeah, he’s been a great influence on me and Denzel because you see how these great athletes or actors work. You can’t replace it. I feel the hard work you have to put in, like you just show up, like you’re the man. Uh-uh. You’re going to be out of the league or whatever. Out of business, you know.”
Alter then asked Haliburton what he felt about Washington’s comparisons to Jordan and Bryant. He resonated with the same thoughts as Lee and summarized them perfectly.
“Yeah. I think all great people who are great in their field, right? They respect others who are great in their field because they know the work that goes into that. So, I feel the same way about that, which is why it’s always interesting when people talk about, like, uh, like artists and athletes, right?”
“All of us athletes want to be those artists. We all want to get on the center stage and get there, and all those artists want to be on our stage and play on a basketball court, right? So, I think that’s the great part about just like the world in general, right? You respect people who are high up for what they do.”
“And I feel like that’s why a lot of times people who are high up in different fields can get along so well, cuz they know the work that had to be put in to get to where they are.”
The Pacers’ All-Star perfectly summarized that it’s not just their work ethic but the mutual respect of greatness that puts ‘artists’ like Washington, Jordan, and Bryant at the epitome of their respective fields.
