The paths of Michael Jordan and LeBron James had crossed long before the latter stepped into the NBA. Former NBA man Antonie Walker pointed out precisely this while recently narrating the story of a 16-year-old James appearing in MJ’s gym. While speaking on the matter, he even revealed that the now-Lakers star struggled to get any play time whatsoever, with the now 47-year-old even feeling bad for him at the time.
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During the latest All The Smoke x Knuckleheads podcast episode, Walker recalled James flying in from Ohio to participate in Jordan’s camp. However, the young Akron-born struggled to establish himself against a sea of seasoned professionals on this occasion. Reflecting on this moment, the 47-year-old stated,
“He [LeBron James] was 16, he came in to play with us. He probably didn’t play till like the 10th game. I felt bad for him. He flew all the way up to play. But it’s thick, it’s 30 pros in the gym that’s already established”.
The situation circled the 2001 summer training camp at ‘Hoops the Gym’, Chicago. Ahead of Jordan’s coveted second return to the NBA, the 6x champion rented out the entire gym to work on his craft alongside a few NBA players. Consequently, the group had to stick to MJ’s schedule throughout the camp.
Despite being comparatively inexperienced, James went toe-to-toe with his seniors. At the same time, it tested the patience of the then-youngster as he had to wait for his opportunities.
In the end, things panned out in his favor to a certain extent for Michael Jordan. After all, he would later go on to be in good enough shape to further play in the NBA. And of course, the pros got an invaluable early look at The King too.
This LeBron James appearance was enough to attract quite a bit of attention
Metta Sandiford-Artest was one of the NBA players to feature in the camp alongside Walker. By then, the former was already aware of the majestic endeavors of then-high schooler James. Yet, the latter still found a way to surpass the 44-year-old’s expectations.
Looking back at that time during his appearance on Podcast with P, Artest mentioned, “He was already famous. He was bigger than all of us in the gym. So he’s coming into the gym, I’m like, ‘Cool, I want to see what he got.’ He was cooking like he was 15 or 16. Posting, getting to the basket and I’m like, ‘This is going to be a huge issue right’“.
These words highlight how then-teenage James was already prepared to step into the NBA. However, due to the league’s regulations, he had to wait two more years before entering the 2003 draft. And expectedly, he began from where he left off, paving the way for a fairytale NBA story.
