When talking to reporters on Thursday, LeBron James said he hadn’t studied Michael Jordan’s career at this point for pretty obvious reasons.
LeBron James didn’t shy away from the Michael Jordan comparisons. After coming into the league with more hype than any player in NBA history, the former No. 1 overall pick donned Jordan’s famous No. 23 jersey number as a rookie.
The questions are still pouring in from reporters, 14 seasons and three NBA rings laters.
James, who turns 32 on Friday, was asked Thursday if he had studied any tape of how Jordan adapted at this point in his career. MJ won three straight titles and two Most Valuable Player awards after his 33rd birthday.
His response, per James Herbert of CBSSports.com, was honest.
“No, I haven’t. Because our games are so different. He was much more of a scorer. And at that point, did a lot of post work at that point in time. But our games are just different. His body is different. My body is different than his. So it’s just, you recognize the dominance that someone had at that age. At that age, you recognize the dominance. But there’s no similarities in our game at all.”
The comments aren’t meant to be disrespectful; it’s just the truth. While Jordan and James will likely go down as the two greatest basketball players of all time they couldn’t be more different.
Jordan was a pure scorer with a one-track mind and James has only led the league in scoring once. He prefers to take on a point forward role.
