“LeBron James plays like me so I’d pick him over Michael Jordan”: When Karl Malone dished on his preference between Lakers and Bulls legends

Karl Malone once stated that he would decisively pick LeBron James as his teammate over Michael Jordan due to their play-styles. 

Michael Jordan and LeBron James differ in the way they approach the game in way the drastic way. Jordan was often seen as a tyrant who pushed his teammates to their limits behind closed doors. He was not ‘buddy-buddy’ with them and wanted to extract every last bit of potential from his guys on the Bulls and Wizards. 

LeBron James on the other hand, does no such thing. Well, if he does then these antics of his have been kept under wraps quite well. While James most certainly wants to get the best out of his teammates as any leader would, he does not push them over the edge through verbal assaults or physical altercations to do so.

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That’s merely their off court personality. Their play-style on the court would also have any on-lookers point out key differences in their games. LeBron James being the only member of the 10k assists and 10k rebounds club should be the most significant hint towards how different he is from Michael Jordan. 

Karl Malone on who he’s rather be teammates with between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. 

Karl Malone was actually teammates with Michael Jordan at one point. The two shared the court together as members of the 1992 Dream Team at Barcelona where they would go undefeated together and bag Gold. Despite this, Malone would still prefer to have LeBron James as a teammate over MJ.

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His reasoning? Their difference in play-styles. A guy who’s willing to pass up a shot for himself to get a better one will always be a better teammate, chemistry-wise. That is exactly what James is.

Plus, the fact that Karl Malone racked up over 36,000 points by running a PnR with John Stockton should be the biggest indication towards how much he loves playing with a pass-first guy. LeBron does always say that he isn’t even a scorer.