LeBron James says he had almost no personal contact with Michael Jordan

The debate among fans about who is the "GOAT" (greatest player of all time) in NBA history has never stopped. Recently, LeBron James revealed a detail in a 75-minute interview on the "Pat McAfee Show" that he and Michael Jordan had almost no personal contact.

"There is no contact between us, I'm still playing, I'm still focused on improving my game," James said.

He said that perhaps because he was still active on the court, the relationship between him and Jordan was always in a state of "competitive silence." "MJ, we all know what kind of person he is. Even if you don't know him, you know that he is a fierce competitor. When I was still running in the No. 23 jersey, he might not really connect with me."

James also mentioned another NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, who rarely had any real interactions with Jordan during their respective peak periods.

"Interestingly, me and Kobe, the late great, we never really had a relationship," James recalled. "We had a good relationship when we were on the national team (in 2008 and 2012), but during that time, we were more of competitors. One was in the East and the other was in the West, so we were destined not to meet each other often."

It wasn't until Kobe retired in 2016 that their relationship began to change. And it wasn't until James joined the Lakers in 2018 that the relationship really heated up.

James said: "After that, we became really close. He called me and said, 'Brother, you are a Laker now. Whatever you need in Los Angeles, I am here. You are family.' We started to communicate frequently. He often came to watch my games. "

James also emotionally recalled the moment he surpassed Kobe to become the third on the NBA's all-time scoring list: "That game was in Philadelphia, and he tweeted: 'Keep going, keep changing the sport.' That sentence meant a lot to me."