Not Michael Jordan, Magic Legend Became LeBron James’ Source of Inspiration

Michael Jordan was the player who made LeBron James fall in love with basketball, but he was not the one James tried to model his game after. That distinction goes back to his childhood, when two NBA stars caught his attention for very different reasons. Speaking on his Mind the Game podcast with Steve Nash, the 41-year-old explained why Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, rather than Jordan, helped shape the way he played.

James had hinted at this years earlier. In 2019, he admitted, “I kinda idolize Michael Jordan, but I wanted to be like Penny. I just didn't think I could get to Michael Jordan heights.”

Now, he has offered more insight into what made Jordan and Hardaway such important figures in his early years.

“It was MJ and Anthony ‘Penny’ Hardaway. Those were my two guys,” James said on the show while recalling the players he watched growing up in the 1990s.

Jordan was his introduction to the NBA. Once the James household finally got cable, he could watch Chicago Bulls games on WGN. James remembered sitting on the floor, waiting for the broadcast to begin, knowing that on a school night, he might only get to watch until halftime.

Watching Jordan felt like an event in itself. James compared the experience to going to the movies or seeing Michael Jackson perform the moonwalk. Jordan had a way of making basketball look extraordinary, and young LeBron could not get enough of it.

Hardaway caught his attention for a different reason.

James first watched Penny play at Memphis State and was struck by how a player of his size could handle the ball so comfortably. Standing around 6-foot-7, Hardaway could run the offense, dribble through defenders, and deliver behind-the-back passes that James had rarely seen from someone that tall.

His reaction was simple. “This guy's different.”

James also credited his childhood friend Brandon Weems, now the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager, with helping him appreciate Hardaway’s game. The more he watched, the more he became fascinated by the way Hardaway combined a point guard’s skills with the size of a forward.

Penny Hardaway showed James what kind of player he could become

James was captivated by the Chicago Bulls of the mid-1990s, but the Orlando Magic also left a lasting impression. Watching Hardaway play alongside Shaquille O’Neal during the Magic’s run in the mid-1990s gave him a different picture of what basketball could look like.

Shaq could run the floor and overpower defenders, while Hardaway, a 6-foot-7 playmaker, could push the ball up the court and create opportunities for his teammates. James had not seen a combination quite like it before. He was also drawn to the world portrayed in Blue Chips, the basketball film about highly recruited prospects and the attention surrounding them.

But the biggest difference between Jordan and Hardaway was how James saw himself in their games.

Jordan seemed almost impossible to imitate. James admired him, but he did not believe he could become the same kind of player. Hardaway, along with Grant Hill, offered something he could relate to. Both were tall, versatile playmakers who could handle the ball, create for others, and take control of an offense.

James noticed that the way his youth coaches taught the game also reflected what Hardaway and Hill were doing on the court. Their style gave him a model he could work toward rather than one he could only admire from a distance.

“Even though I loved Michael Jordan, I never thought I could be Michael Jordan,” James explained.

He later made the distinction even clearer. “MJ inspired me to play the sport,” he said, “but Penny and Grant Hill were the ones who actually shaped my game.”

It helps explain why James developed into a different kind of player from Jordan. 

The admission is striking given how often James and Jordan are compared in debates over the greatest basketball player of all time. James has never hidden his admiration for Jordan, whose influence helped draw him into the sport in the first place.