After winning his fourth NBA championship back in October with the Los Angeles Lakers, the debate about LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan got even more interesting as James added a 10th NBA Finals appearance and another championship ring, all while doing so in his 17th season. The comparisons and the debates sparked a great story idea from our colleague Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype, in which he interviewed players who played with both LeBron and MJ.
Among the interviews for the article was LeBron’s former Cavaliers teammate Larry Hughes, who was a teammate of his during his first NBA Finals run in 2007 against the San Antonio Spurs. According to Hughes, he knew as soon as he arrived in Cleveland that the Cavs would go as LeBron did.
Larry Hughes: We always talked about competition, never backing down and never allowing anyone to see that you are frustrated or not playing to the best of your abilities. We talked about keeping an even keel presence and making sure that your teammates know where you stand. In every situation, as we’ve seen his career play out, LeBron is the leader of the group. I wanted to make sure he knew that early. Like, dude, we’re going to follow you. You just have to make sure your body language and your communication matches up to your game and who you want to be. I think he was a good teammate. He has really enhanced everything that he was as a young kid. It’s coming out now as a veteran in the league.
James truly has enhanced basically every attribute, both on and off the court, in his 17 NBA seasons. As he is now a week from the start of season No. 18, it would be unexpected for all of that to change.
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