"Oh my f**king God!" - LeBron James once described being spellbound after meeting Michael Jordan for first time
LeBron James is one of the most celebrated names in the NBA today. He is also a popular and well-known celebrity around America and the rest of the world. However, when James and Michael Jordan met for the first time, even he couldn't help but be starstruck.
LeBron James and Michael Jordan met for the first time attending a basketball camp in his high school sophomore year. Jordan was hosting a camp that was filled with young talent who had the potential to reach the NBA. James talked about this incident in an interview with his friend Maverick Carter in 2020. Here is what James said (starting at the 17:30 minute mark):
"It's two people I've met in my life that's changed my life. Meeting my wife...and when I meet Michael Jordan in 2001...When I met Michael Jordan for the first time, I literally couldn't believe it was him. I couldn't believe it. The dude looked like Jesus Christ to me. He was Black Jesus to me. Nobody can tell me anything different."
James claimed that meeting Jordan effectively changed his life. James further described the very moment he first saw Jordan:
"I was in Chicago...They take us to hoops...So we walk upstairs and nobody told me that Mike lifts before he plays. I don’t know anything about lifting right now, I’m a high school sophomore. I don’t know anything about lifting.
"We walk up there and the first person I see is Charles Oakley. Oak being from Cleveland, I dapped him up. And, Oak moved and when he moves, Mike is sitting on the bench press. And I was like, 'Oh my f**king God!'"
James continued to talk about how he was spellbound. For a young LeBron James, it felt to him that he had fulfilled his life's purpose. James said:
"I didn't think he was real. You don't understand. I didn't think Michael Jordan was real. I only thought he lived in the TV. Either in games, or commercials. ... I didn't think he was real. And, when I saw him, I was like, if the man above took me that day, I would've lived a hell of a life."
The stardom in the sports world doesn't get much bigger than LeBron James. It is exciting to see that even LeBron James can be completely mesmerized by Michael Jordan, which speaks volumes to the stardom of Jordan.
Did LeBron James and Michael Jordan ever play together in the NBA?
LeBron James was the first pick in the 2003 NBA Draft that took place on June 26, 2003. James was only 18 years old at the time and was coming out of high school.
Unfortunately, just a couple of months before this, Michael Jordan announced his retirement for the third and final time on April 16, 2003. Jordan was 40 years old at the time and was no longer the player that he once was.
As far as basketball fans are concerned, LeBron James and Michael Jordan never played in the NBA at the same time.
That said, they did play together once during a camp in James' rookie season. Here is what James said about it:
“We were on the same team. I was a rookie. I was a rookie in the league, and I went to Santa Barbara to MJ’s camp, and we used to play around 9 p.m.
"The camp would end, he would let the kids watch, like, the first game around, like, 8:30, and then he’d have all the kids leave, and then we would stay, along with the college kids that he would invite to the camp. I was on a team with MJ, and we didn’t lose a game.”
Michael Jordan and LeBron James went undefeated when they were put on the same team. This is not a surprise given who we are talking about. Despite the endless debates, there is no denying the individual greatness of either of these two players.