LeBron James opens up on relationship with idol Michael Jordan

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Michael Jordan went from being LeBron James’ childhood idol to now, in the twilight of James’ Hall of Fame career, being the basketball figure his résumé is most often judged against.

James opened up about the current relationship between him and Jordan as part of a wide-ranging interview that aired Wednesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

While James characterized their dynamic as being in “a good spot,” he admitted there is distance between them.

“We don’t talk,” James said during the 75-minute interview that was taped at McAfee’s studio outside Indianapolis on Tuesday. “Because I’m still playing. I’m still playing, I’m still focused on my craft right now.”

James said, “I would hope so,” when asked if he believed a rapport could blossom between him and Jordan after the Los Angeles Lakers star retires — similarly to the way James became closer to Kobe Bryant after Bryant finished his playing career.

“The funny thing is, me and Kobe — the late, great Kob, obviously — me and Kobe never had a real relationship either,” James said. “We were on the [USA] Olympic team, we had a great relationship there. The Olympic team in ’08, the Olympic team in ’12, but it was always competitive between us. We were always like, I was on the East Coast, he was on the West Coast, and it was like, even though … in ’09 and we didn’t beat Orlando and didn’t get an opportunity to play him in the Finals [there was a competitive friction].”

James said that first began to change in 2016 when Bryant retired and that it continued to evolve when James signed with L.A. as a free agent in the summer of 2018.

“That’s when our relationship became really, really good,” James said. “He welcomed me. He called me, like, ‘Bro, anything you need in L.A., 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 s— meant so much to me.”

James and Jordan did come together to share a memorable embrace at halftime of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland when the league honored the league’s 75th Anniversary Team.

“That was dope,” James said. “That’s straight respect, admiration and me, for sure, I wear 23 because of MJ. And the inspiration that he gave me as a kid in Akron, Ohio, who don’t have much inspiration in your hometown.”

However, so long as James, 40, is still an active player and continues to stack his résumé to be able to compare to Jordan — a six-time champion, five-time MVP and 10-time scoring champ — he doesn’t expect the relationship with 62-year-old Jordan to change.

“I think it’s because I’m still playing,” James continued. “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, [a relationship will have to wait].”

Among the many topics James also touched on with McAfee was how his son Bronny James has developed throughout his rookie season with the Lakers.

“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. 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,” James said. “From the moment that he was drafted … to now … his development has skyrocketed.”

Bronny James, whom the Lakers selected with the No. 55 pick in the second round after his freshman season at USC, scored a season-high 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting for the Lakers last week. He followed that up by scoring 39 points on 14-for-21 shooting Monday for the South Bay Lakers, L.A.’s G League affiliate.

“Super proud of Bronny,” James said. “Super proud of his game and where he is today, starting off the G League season with just trying to figure it out and now, 39 [points] and even when I talked to him, he was more pissed off at the technical free throw that he missed more than anything. He was like, ‘I could have had a 40 ball, and I missed that damn technical free throw.’ So, the kid, he’s awesome.”

It’s a long way from where Bronny James was in October when he made his debut for the Lakers on opening night in a win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. That debut came less than a year and a half after he suffered a cardiac arrest because of a congenital heart defect and needed corrective surgery.

“Us going out on the floor and having that moment, physically I wasn’t even there,” LeBron 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 [overjoyed], 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.

“But, damn, that was an unbelievable moment, man, for me to be able to have that dream, be able to speak it into existence, for it to come to fruition. For my mom and my wife and my daughter and my youngest son to be there, I started thinking about everything from what the hell he went through less than a year before with his cardiac arrest.”

James’ younger son, 17-year-old Bryce, is coming off a state championship during his senior season with Sierra Canyon and is committed to play basketball for the University of Arizona in the fall. James, who is in his 22nd season, was asked whether he could see himself staying in the NBA long enough to play alongside both of his sons.

“Don’t do that to me,” James said with a smile.

Giddey’s 47-foot buzzer-beater lifts red-hot Bulls to wild win over Lakers

CHICAGO — Josh Giddey could feel it as soon as the ball left his fingertips. In a flash, teammates were mobbing him.

Giddey’s buzzer-beating half-court heave capped what might be the wildest finish in the NBA this season and gave the surging Chicago Bulls a 119-117 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.

“Special moment to do it with these guys, this team,” Giddey said.

The Lakers, meanwhile, went from winning at Indiana on a tip-in by LeBron James at the buzzer on Wednesday to losing in gut-wrenching fashion. They are just the fifth team in NBA history to win and lose on a buzzer-beater on consecutive days, according to Basketball-Reference.com. They also took it on the chin again from Chicago after getting blown out by the Bulls in Los Angeles on Saturday.

“Devastation,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “It’s a hell of a way to lose a basketball game.”

The Lakers led by 13 midway through the fourth quarter and appeared to be in good shape up 115-110 after Austin Reaves made two free throws with 12.6 seconds left, only to lose for the eighth time in 12 games. They have a day to shake it off before closing out a four-game trip at Memphis.

“We put ourselves in position to win, gave up a lot of 3s in the fourth quarter, still put ourselves in position to win,” James said. “Horrible turnover by myself, miscommunication the play before that. AR tried to save us. Tip your hats.”

The Bulls made 11 of 14 3-pointers in the fourth. They nailed three in the final 10 seconds, starting with one by Patrick Williams with 9.8 seconds left.

Giddey then stole a pass from James and fed Coby White for a 3 to put the Bulls on top with 6.1 seconds remaining.

Reaves drove for a layup to give the Lakers a 117-116 lead with 3.3 seconds left, Chicago had just enough time to pull out the win.

Giddey inbounded to Williams, got the ball back and pulled up near the Bulls’ logo. He held his follow-through right until the shot fell through the net, giving the Bulls their ninth win in 11 games. And this one was easily their wildest in recent memory.

A sentiment shared by guard Kevin Huerter on X after the game.

“Just wow,” he wrote. “Craziest game of my life probably.”

“We’ve shown over the last month to six weeks that we can beat anybody,” Giddey said. “The way we play the game, I think it wears people down. We get up and down. We run. We put heat on them to get back. A lot of veteran teams don’t particularly want to get back and play in transition.”

The Bulls looked like a lifeless team a month ago. They traded Zach LaVine to Sacramento before the deadline and seemed to be packing it in after six straight losses left them with a 22-35 record. They’re 11-5 since then, and they haven’t just been picking on weak teams. They’ve beaten the Lakers twice and Denver in the past three games and also have a win over Indiana during this stretch.

Giddey and White have been at their best lately.

Giddey delivered his fifth triple-double Thursday with 25 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. The only Bulls player with more in a season was Michael Jordan with 15 in 1988-89. His feat also makes him the first player with a triple-double and a winning buzzer-beater against the Lakers in NBA history, according to Basketball-Reference.

White finished with 26 points after scoring 35 or more in a career-high three straight games, and the Bulls simply didn’t quit. Coach Billy Donovan said that took hold in September, during the players’ workouts at the team’s facility before the start of training camp.

“We’ve got to be in great shape to play this way,” he said. “They’ve got to push themselves. I think a lot of that stemmed before training camp started, when they all came back in September. They played most of their pickup games with a 14-second shot clock just to kind of get that mentality down. We tried to go through training camp like that. I think there’s advantages by really trying to play in a way that forces these guys to be in great shape.”