Ways Lebron James Copies Michael Jordan

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Michael Jordan is one of the most influential athletes to ever exist, so much so that he actually inspired a lot of Lebron's decisions in the NBA and in his personal life.
Back in the late 80s and 90s, Michael Jordan was the face of the NBA, and at one point, he was the most famous person in America. The summer of 1995 was a busy one, critical one for Michael Jordan, and after returning to the NBA from his stint as a minor league baseball player, Jordan needed to get back into basketball shape before the 1995-96 season. During all this, Jordan was filming his major role in Space Jam, which would be released in 1996 The film made over $230 million worldwide, becoming an instant classic. Now, Lebron James was following Jordan's footsteps, and he would be the creator behind the sequel for another Space Jam movie, Space Jam, A New Legacy, which marks James' first major leading acting role in his career. Essentially, Space Jam, A New Legacy will seek to update the original plot to modern times for a new generation of basketball fans. As such, audiences can expect a similar storyline to the original. The original movie features NBA stars Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Sean Bradley, and Muggsy Bogues. As of now, the new cast includes NBA stars Clay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, and Kyle Kuzma, along with Bugs Bunny and friends. With Michael Jordan being one of the most popular players during his era, he had a pregame ritual that he stuck with for numerous years. MJ did the chalk toss that's recently been glorified by Lebron James doing it during the last decade, but Jordan was actually the originator of it. Jordan did the chalk toss mainly before high anticipated or televised matchups, but it was a bit different from Lebron's. Although MJ would pour chalk on his hands the same as James did, he would clap them together in the faces of the people sitting behind the scorers table, documenting his career. He continued to do this so much that people anticipated it happening. People sitting at the scorers table even began wearing special facial protection to prevent a cloud of powder from hitting them in the face. Now Lebron's chalk toss is one of the most iconic pregame rituals of all time, and he's done it for the majority of his career. Even though Jordan did the ritual first, Lebron has since reinvented it and arguably made it more iconic. Lebron talked to nba.com about his pregame ritual saying, I don't remember the first time I started to do it, but I felt the fans started to embrace it, and I started to really set my mind to get focused on what was at task when I started to do it. Doing it on the road sometimes you get booed, so I love it. At home they go crazy, so I don't know what made me start doing it. I don't know. Great things happen sometimes. At one point, Lebron actually stopped doing the chalk toss when he made his first exit from Cleveland to Miami, but when he made his return to the Cavaliers, he asked the fans to vote on if he should bring it back or not. Of course, the fans voted yes, and Lebron returned to his old ways. Over the years, fans became very expectant of this happening, and showed up to games throwing paper confetti in the games to replicate him doing it. Now, we all know Michael Jordan for wearing the number 23 throughout his career, and usually most athletes choose their jersey based on some sort of meaning. For Jordan, he chose number 23 because of his older brother Larry. Although Larry never played in the NBA, Larry Jordan was a gifted athlete and basketball player. He taught Michael a lot about the sport of basketball and helped instill an ingrained competitiveness in Michael. It wasn't until late in high school that Michael started to really compete with Larry's ability. Larry would rock the number 45 growing up, so when Michael had to select his jersey number, the choice was obvious. If Michael was ever to be half the man his idol Larry was, then his jersey should reflect that. Half of 45 is 22.5. Round it up, and you have 23, which is the meaning behind the selection. Now, with Lebron James always seeing wearing the same number as Michael Jordan, there tends to be speculation as to why he chose it. Instead of choosing his jersey number to idol a family member, James chose it to emulate his idol, which turns out to be Jordan. Growing up as a kid in the inner city, James noted he was seeking role models to gain inspiration from, and Michael Jordan was his hero. An article with Bleacher Report was surfaced in 2019, where James went into further detail on why he chose 23