LeBron James and Michael Jordan never crossed paths in the NBA. The summer James was drafted, ‘MJ’ had already retired for the third but final time. However, if you think they never shared the court together, you would be wrong! As a teenager, ‘Akron Hammer’ played a game in 2001, where he shared the court with NBA vets like Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, and Ron Artest.

Over the years, grainy photos of the Chicago game have emerged and fans have marveled over James and Jordan sharing the court. But what could have been better than video footage, right? Unfortunately, there are no clips of the game available. Regardless, LeBron James, who was on Travis and Jason Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ podcast earlier this month, shared his experience playing with the very best.

“First of all, MJ, Antoine Walker and the rest of those guys did not let young guys get on the court at all,” James said. “I was 16 years old, I was a sophomore in high school, and it takes a while to get on the court. It’s usually when the older guys, they get tired and don’t want to play no more.”

But when Travis Kelce asked him who guarded him, James had quite a witty response. “Nobody, I was unguardable,” he revealed before also adding how nervous he was thinking about sharing the court with his idol. Now, Tim Hardaway Sr., another one of the NBA players present at the camp, just spoke about that historical day with Draymond Green and Baron Davis.

“We wanted to see what he [James] could do. He didn’t do it all the time because he had broke his wrist and he and it was like a week after he took the cast off. He came in he was playing and he came down on a fast break. And we thought he was going to pass. The motherf—er took off from the free-throw line. He just took off. He missed. He missed, but the motherf—er just went woo. I mean, just like that. We thought he was gonna pass and it was like in slow motion. The mother—-er just took off. And I was like, damn, he just missed and the ball slipped out of his hand,” he said on the Draymond Green Show.

Still, it gave a glimpse of what the future of the NBA was going to look like. “That’s incredible. I mean, for a 16, 17-year-old kid to come in and do some s–t like that. And he was making shots, playing defense, passing the ball. You could feel his presence… You knew that he was going to be that mother—-er in the NBA,” said Hardaway Sr.

Fast forward twenty-five years and LeBron James is still leaving the modern generation dumbfounded. At the age of 40, the Akron Hammer is still unstoppable. Although he may not jump as high or run as fast, there is still venom in his step. However, there are more witnesses to the old game in discussion.

Tim Hardaway Sr. wasn’t the only one who foresaw LeBron James’ bright future!

The Miami Heat legend wasn’t the only NBA player present to witness the sensational young prospect. Amongst them was another youngster hungry to prove his worth in front of the crowd. At the time, just 20 years old, he was part of Jordan’s camp and he too was equally in awe. We are talking about Ron Artest.

Last year, he revealed on Paul George’s podcast: “He’s coming into the gym and I’m like cool I want to see what he got. He [LeBron] was cooking. Like he was fifteen or sixteen, posting, getting to the basket and I’m like this is going to be a huge issue.”

But it did something good for the former Pacers forward. Having a knowledge of what to expect in the coming years motivated the former Defensive Player of The Year. His offseason regiment was grueling. Still, in the 21 games they played, LeBron James won 13. Moreover, LeBron James averaged 26.9 points, 6.8 assists, and 6.7 rebounds on 49% shooting in the 21 games against Metta Sandiford-Artest.

“King James dominated our meets on average with an 80% success rate. He was strong enough to keep up with my strength and he succeeded,” he admitted on X in 2023. His tweet was in response to the growing narrative that he was the only one to physically intimidate LeBron James.