LeBron’s Last Dance? Filmmakers of the iconic Michael Jordan series are following James, 38, and the Lakers this season and have spent ‘a ton of time’ with ‘The King’
- LeBron James is preparing for the Western Conference finals vs Denver Nuggets
- This season, he became the all-time leading points scorer in NBA history
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In the coming weeks, LeBron James’s place in the history of basketball is going to be discussed all over again as the Lakers star takes aim at a fifth NBA title. But off the court, ‘The King’ is already be building a legacy to rival Michael Jordan’s.
Lakers radio analyst John Ireland has made the fascinating revelation that the filmmakers of The Last Dance – the iconic series on Jordan’s sixth and final Chicago Bulls title – have been working with James this season.
‘I hope I’m not talking out of school here, Andy Thompson, the guy who shot The Last Dance, Mychal Thompson’s younger brother, who has worked for the NBA for 30 years, has spent a ton of time with us this year,’ Ireland said on the Awful Announcing Podcast.
‘So if LeBron ever wanted to go down this road, I think Andy is stockpiling that just so he has it and has the opportunity to tell the story.
LeBron James could have a ‘Last Dance’ style series made about his current Lakers season
James, 38, is fighting it out with the Lakers for what would be his fifth NBA career title
‘If we go on a magical run to the title, Andy, who was the driving force behind The Last Dance, most of the stuff you saw in those 10 episodes was shot by Andy Thompson.
‘And Andy’s a smart guy, he’s already working on, potentially, a story about the end of LeBron’s run like he had one for the end of Jordan’s run.’
The Lakers are gearing up the Western Conference finals against Denver Nuggets – the first game is Tuesday night – but for their current success, the regular season was far from impressive for the team.
They finished seventh in the Western Conference and at times even looked doubtful to make the playoffs. But it’s still a season that would make for gripping viewing, especially given the sub-plots around James.
In February, he became the leading points scorer in NBA history by scoring 38 points against Oklahoma City Thunder. He needed 36 to eclipse Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 38,387.
The game was stopped for 10 minutes to celebrate James’s achievement and came at a time when the 38-year-old was battling through an ankle issue.
In the playoffs, James was targeted by Dillon Brooks during the Memphis Grizzlies, with Brooks calling James ‘old’ and getting ejected in Game 2 for hitting him in the groin.
But the Lakers won the series in six games, setting up a showdown with Steph Curry and Golden State Warriors.
James became the all-time leading scorer in the NBA this season, back in February
Jordan won six NBA titles and his final one with the Bulls has since made an iconic TV series
The Lakers won that in six too with attention now turning to the Nuggets and Luka Jokic.
A caveat to this season’s footage is that James isn’t likely to retire at the end of it, regardless of the Lakers success. He has previously underlined a desire to play in the NBA with his son Bronny, 18.
Ireland also said Thompson was filming Kobe Bryant in the years before his death but is unsure about what will happen with that footage.
‘The good news is, if you’re a basketball fan, that all this footage exists,’ Ireland said. ‘Whether it ever comes out and they know what to do with it is another story.’