Within basketball circles there's an urban legend if you will and it involves LeBron James and Michael Jordan. When the current face of the NBA was just 16 (2000-2001), he got to square off against a 37- or 38-year-old MJ who was playing for the Washington Wizards at the time. However, during some point either after or during the NBA season that year, they got to be on the same pick-up court together. As LeBron James recalls during a new interview on Jason and Travis Kelce's New Heights podcast, it took a while for him to play.
"First of all, MJ, Antoine Walker, and the rest of those guys did not let young guys get on the court," he began. "At all. I was 16 years old; I was sophomore in high school, and it takes a while to get on the court. Usually, it's when older guys they get tired and don't wanna play no more... but I did." He then goes on to list off some of major players in the league at the time who were also there. Speaking of there, LeBron James was at Michael Jordan's court in Chicago, Hoops.
Because It's LeBron James, Folks Don't Know If It's True
"I was on the court with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, Ron Artest, Michael Finley, all these guys." Travis Kelce then interjected and asked excitedly, "Who guarded you?" To that LeBron responded, "Nobody. I was unguardable." He then added, "I was busting a** man. I was nervous as hell because I'm out there with MJ and the rest of those guys, but I was like 'Oh, I'm about to go crazy and I did." That sent both brothers into a frenzy, but it seems that this is actually factual.
LeBron references an older clip of Artest (Metta World Peace) on Paul George's show, Podcast P, talking about that very day. "Everybody knew who he was. He was already famous. He was bigger than all of us in the gym. So, he's coming into the gym, and I'm like, 'Alright, cool, I wanna see what he's got. And he's cooking. He is 15, or 16. Posting, getting to the basket. And I'm like, 'This is going to be a huge issue.'"
