LeBron James has opened up about his relationship with Michael Jordan, the man who he often finds his NBA career measured against.
The question of which of the players is the greatest has become such a staple of sports talkshows that it is almost a cliche. In an interview with the the Pat McAfee Show broadcast on Wednesday, James said he has little interaction with Jordan.
“We don’t talk,” James said. “Because I’m still playing. I’m still playing, I’m still focused on my craft right now.”
James said much of the distance is due to the pair’s competitiveness. James has four NBA titles and is a four-time Most Valuable Player. Jordan was a six-time champion and a five-time MVP.
“I think it’s because I’m still playing,” James said. “And MJ, we all know MJ. Even if you don’t know him personally, he is one of the most ruthless competitors there is and until I’m done and he doesn’t have to look at me running up and down wearing the No 23 and every time my name is mentioned, it’s mentioned with his.”
The 40-year-old said he has “hope” he will become closer to Jordan when he retires, saying something similar happened with Kobe Bryant. James said there was some competitive friction between the pair but that softened when Bryant had retired and James joined the Lakers.
“That’s when our relationship became really, really good,” James said. “He welcomed me. He called me, like, ‘Bro, anything you need in LA, I got you. You’re a Laker now. You’re family.’ And we would have multiple conversations. Obviously, you guys saw him coming to a lot of games … And when I passed him for the scoring record in Philly, he had a tweet out there like, ‘Keep on going.’ Like, ‘Keep transcending the game. Keep going.’ And that shit meant so much to me.”
James also spoke about his son and Lakers teammate, Bronny. Bronny was drafted by the Lakers last year, amid some accusations of nepotism. He has struggled in early NBA appearances but has spent time in the G-League and scored a career-high 17 points for the Lakers earlier this month.
“For me as a dad, it doesn’t matter if he never scores, ever. For me as a dad, I’m just super proud of him, period, as a young man,” said James. “For me as a mentor and as a teammate of his that wants to see him thrive because I have seen the work he’s put into the game, I am super proud of his development to where he is now. From the moment that he was drafted … to now … his development has skyrocketed.”
Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest in college, and James described the joy of seeing him recover and make his debut for the Lakers this season.
“Us going out on the floor and having that moment, physically I wasn’t even there,” James said. “I wasn’t even there. I’m floating. I could only imagine where Bronny was. We haven’t even talked about it yet. At some point we will. But I wasn’t even there. I was so [happy], I might have been in the rafters. I might have been at home – my body might have been at home watching the game and watching the moment. I completely was not there.”
James was also asked about extending his playing career so that his youngest son, 17-year-old Bryce, could play alongside his father and Bronny on the Lakers.
“Don’t do that to me,” James said with a smile.