NBA
LeBron James breaks silence on legendary Michael Jordan pickup game: “I was unguardable”
LeBron James has set the record straight on the pickup game he played alongside Michael Jordan and other major players as a teenager.

NBA superstar LeBron James has broken his silence on the legendary pickup game he played with Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan, and other basketballing household names, when he was still a 16-year-old high schooler.
What did LeBron James say about Michael Jordan pickup game?
Speaking this week on New Heights, a podcast hosted by NFL star Travis Kelce and his brother, the retired football player Jason, James recalled that he was “nervous as hell” when he stepped onto the court amid such illustrious company.
However, the Los Angeles Lakers player added that he overcame his apprehension to produce a “crazy” performance.
“I was on the court with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, Ron Artest, Michael Finley… all these guys,” James said. Asked by Travis Kelce who guarded him, he declared: “Nobody: I was unguardable.”
The 40-year-old continued: “When I finally got out there, I was like: ‘I’m bustin’ ass, man.’ I was nervous as hell, being out there with ‘MJ’ and the rest of those guys. But I was like, ‘I’m about to go crazy,’ and I did, I did.”
Jordan, who led the Bulls to six NBA championships in the 1990s, was known to organize pickup games during the offseason. As TalkSport’s Joshua Rogers notes, these practice matchups tended to include not only NBA players, but also up-and-coming prospects yet to make the step up to the professional game.
“Everybody knew who he was”
Last year, Artest - who is now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest - also looked back on James’s impressive impact in Jordan’s pickup game. The 2010 NBA champion, who is five years older than LeBron, recalled his feelings of awe and intimidation at the then-teenager’s obviously generational talent.
“Everybody knew who he was - he was, like, famous,” Sandiford-Artest told Podcast P with Paul George.
“He was bigger than all of us in the gym. So he’s coming into the gym and I’m like, ‘Alright, cool, I want to see what he’s got.’ He was cooking. He was 15 or 16, posting, getting to the basket, and I’m like, ‘This is going to be a huge issue.’ And for sure, it was.
“He actually motivated [me]. When I saw that, it motivated me. I was like, ‘I’ve got to work.’ He’s coming into the league cooking - I was nothing like that at 15.”
LeBron an NBA legend
James went on to join the NBA as an 18-year-old in 2003 - and in the two decades since then, has won four championships and four MVP awards. In February 2023, the 20-time All-Star overtook Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time highest points scorer.
A player who has also had stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, James is now attempting to spearhead the Lakers’ push for a record-equalling 18th NBA title.
JJ Redick’s men, who currently lie seventh in the Western Conference with a 20-17 record, host the Miami Heat in their latest regular-season game on Wednesday.
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