“He Saved My Life”: Unlike Michael Jordan’s Fear of Water, LeBron James Endangered His Life to Save Carmelo Anthony

The basketball world has always been rocked by one debate. Who is the GOAT of the NBA? When comparing dominance on the court, two parties present themselves in this question. One side vouches for Michael Jordan. The other side is in support of LeBron James. As things stand, they are both evenly matched, but off the court, there is one thing The King outmatches His Airness in. That happens to be swimming. It is a known fact that Jordan has a fear of water, but on the other hand, King James is a great swimmer and even saved Carmelo Anthony from being lost at sea.

Melo shared this amazing story during an Instagram Live session in the middle of a conversation with Dwyane Wade. And, to hear them describe it, LeBron was the closest thing to a superhero on that day.

Carmelo Anthony recalled how LeBron James once saved his life during a vacation

The Banana Boat Team is one of the most infamous cliques in sports. The group consisting of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul are the best of friends and have been for a long time.

In fact, the group is so close, they often vacation together. On one particular trip to the Bahamas, they rented out a boat and headed out to soak up some sun and do a little bit of snorkeling. It was here that things got quite scary. As Melo revealed in a conversation with D-Wade he had gone for a swim in the ocean that nearly ended badly.

After the swim, while everyone else had gotten back to the boat, the current was pushing him to the middle of the ocean. This meant he was moving in the opposite direction of the boat all by himself. Obviously, he was scared, it was getting windy, and for a moment he thought he would never be found. Luckily, King James came to the rescue. The four-time NBA Champion jumped into the ocean and carried Melo back to the boat. An act of heroism that Anthony is grateful for, seeing as it saved his life. Here is what he said, as you can see in the House of Highlights’ Youtube clip.

“The current is taking me to the middle of the ocean like opposite from the boat. And it was windy and all types of s**t was going on in my head imma be honest with you. Then I look up at the boat…Bron jump off the boat like he’s MacGyver. He jumped off the boat into the water and he was bringing me back with one arm. He’s swimming with one arm and he carrying me with the other arm. That was special. He saved my life. Yo Bron I appreciate that…you saved my life that day!” 

It was fortunate that LeBron was there when Melo needed him. He’ll also be thanking his lucky stars that it wasn’t Michael Jordan. While MJ may have the edge in the GOAT debate, he does not have the edge in the water. After all, he is deathly afraid of it.

Michael Jordan’s traumatic experience with water led to him developing aquaphobia

Michael Jordan is undoubtedly the greatest player of all time, even with LeBron James hot on his heels. While on the court, MJ feared no one, he was unstoppable. However, off the court, His Airness had quite a few fears, one of which is the fear of water, better known as aquaphobia.

As a child, Jordan, unfortunately, witnessed one of his close friends drown in the ocean and has feared water ever since.

It was a traumatic incident, one that the six-time NBA Champion remembers to this day. Just goes to show that even a man who looks as fearless as Jordan has things that give him nightmares.