“I Can’t be Talking to You, LeBron James”: Michael Jordan Joked About Tampering With The 18-Year-Old at His Final Cleveland Game

When Michael Jordan was on his final retirement tour with the Wizards, LeBron James was the ‘Chosen One’ to take over his mantle. Naturally, a lot of publicity was generated whenever the two appeared in public together.

LeBron gained national attention for the first time during his sophomore year of High School. His dominant displays as a do-it-all forward propelled St Vincent St Mary’s High School to a state championship.

James improved his play as a junior – the same year when Jordan made his final comeback with the Wizards. Buzz for him as the successor to MJ as the face of the NBA followed as his team repeated their state championship run.

One of the marquee moments of this campaign came when James’ SVSM beat an Oak Hill Academy team starring Carmelo Anthony. Melo was the highest-ranked high school senior at the time and would lead Syracuse to the NCAA title as a freshman.

By the time he began his senior year – culminating in a third straight state title – James was on an SI Cover. The headline? ‘The Chosen One’, of course!

The fact that James has exceeded all of the hype around him by a significant margin makes it all the more astonishing.

Michael Jordan ‘excused himself from tampering’ after his final Cleveland game

Michael Jordan played his final game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Gund Arena on April 10th. His Wizards were out of the playoff race by that point, but the Cavs were tanking for the number 1 pick.

The game finished 93-79 in Washington’s favor as five of their players, including Jerry Stackhouse, Tyronn Lue and Christian Laettner, finished in double digits. Jordan led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting, along with 10 rebounds.

His Airness received a standing ovation from the 20,542 fans packed into a stadium with only 19432 seats. Also in attendance was LeBron James, who’d go on to torment the Bulls much like Jordan’s reign of terror against the Cavs.

They had a hearty hug, with Mike making a show of backing off and ‘avoiding tampering’ by exclaiming:

 “I can’t be talking to you. I don’t want to be tampering.”

LeBron James played with Jordan in pickup games

Soon after winning his first state championship, the then-16-year-old LeBron James got the opportunity of a lifetime. Mike had decided on giving NBA basketball another go, giving up his front-office role with the Wizards and signing as a player.

Jordan organized pickup games at his Chicago home in order to ramp up his preparations for his return. James was among the players invited to those runs. He revealed that he did get to play, but only because the NBA players present had tired themselves out.