LeBron James Recalls Playing Pick-Up Game Against Michael Jordan as 16-Year-Old

LeBron James provided some insight about playing pick-up basketball with Michael Jordan as a 16-year-old high school sophomore in Chicago on a Wednesday appearance on New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelce

"I was on the court with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, Ron Artest, Michael Finley, all these guys," James told the Kelce brothers (39:00 mark of the video below.)

When Travis Kelce asked who guarded him, James answered: "Nobody. I was unguardable."

James continued: "When I finally got out there, I was like, 'I'm busting ass.' I was nervous. I was nervous as hell, being out there with MJ and the rest of those guys. But I was like, 'Oh, I'm about to go crazy.' And I did, I did."

Metta Sandiford-Artest, a former college and NBA star also known as Ron Artest and Metta World Peace, was around 20 years old at the time the pick-up game took place. He described the game on a May 2024 episode of Podcast P with Paul George.

"Everybody knew who he was. He was already famous. He was bigger than all of us in the gym," Artest said (8:00 mark of the video below.) "So he's coming into the gym, and I'm like, 'Alright, cool, I wanna see what he's got.

"And he's cooking. He is 15, or 16. Posting, getting to the basket. And I'm like, 'This is going to be a huge issue.'"

Artest continued: "He actually motivated me. When I saw that, it motivated me. I'm like, 'I gotta go to work.' He's coming in the league cooking. I was not like that at 15."

More than two decades later, James is averaging 23.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game in his 22nd year in the NBA. He and the Lakers are set to return to action Wednesday night with a home game against the Miami Heat.