LeBron James may be heading toward a documentary project that could put his final act on camera, but if it happens, there’s one lesson from Michael Jordan that should be impossible to ignore: timing matters.
On Thursday morning, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that James and ESPN are “closing in” on a deal for a behind-the-scenes docuseries modeled in the broadest sense after The Last Dance. The idea would be to follow the 41-year-old through the final chapter of his career, with a camera crew attached during what is expected to be a one- to two-year stint in Philadelphia, where he signed as a free agent less than a week ago.
Rich Paul has hinted that it could conceivably go longer. The series would also reportedly pull from earlier parts of James’s career, including footage that has never been seen publicly.
There are still plenty of moving parts. A release date has not been set, and the deal is not yet complete. Maverick Carter, CEO and co-founder of LeBron’s SpringHill Entertainment, has also pushed back on the idea that this is anything like The Last Dance.
“We are NOT doing anything like the “last dance” LeBron doesn’t even know when his last season is”
Still, even if the project ends up looking only loosely connected to Jordan’s docuseries, the comparison is unavoidable. In basketball, the GOAT debate never really cools off, and James and Jordan sit at the center of it more than anyone else.
James is the NBA’s all-time scoring leader. Jordan won six championships with the Bulls.
For 23 years, the two have been measured against each other, with James carrying that comparison from the moment he entered the league.
“My motivation,” he said in 2016, “is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.”
That ghost already has the kind of documentary that James would presumably want for himself. The Last Dance became one of the most celebrated sports documentaries ever, and it set the standard for this kind of project almost immediately.
Part of the reason was access: Jordan, who had grown far more private after his playing days, opened the door in a way fans had not seen before. The series also leaned on interviews with other players from that era, who offered candid looks at the 1990s NBA and what it was like to face Jordan.
Then there was the footage. The series included never-before-seen material from the 1997-98 championship season, which gave it a level of freshness that was hard to match.
It also arrived in a different media world, before social media departments and Instagram Lives made teams and stars feel constantly exposed. Back then, that kind of access felt rare.
That scarcity helped Jordan shape the story. The series felt deliberate, not rushed, and it came after enough time had passed that the whole thing carried weight. It was built to be definitive, not just first.
That’s the part James should study.
If this documentary is meant to be a legacy piece, it will almost certainly be judged against that standard. The hope, at least from James’s side, would be that the world remembers more than the superstar who chased championships. They would want the focus to land on the Kid from Akron, the path that got him there, and the way he lifted a scrappy city while chasing what would be a fifth and final title.
But that pursuit could also be the danger. A failed run at a championship would give Jordan loyalists plenty of ammunition, and putting that story on film forever would only make their case louder. Nostalgia can smooth over a lot, though, and it tends to work best when enough time has passed.
James should make the docuseries. That much is clear.
Fans would watch, networks and streamers would want it, and it would be a major event no matter how it’s framed. But if the goal is something lasting, not just immediate, patience would help.
Waiting a few years before releasing it would only improve the final product, especially when the project would inevitably be compared with The Last Dance. More time would also mean more voices, more perspective, and a better chance to make it feel complete.
So even here, James may end up taking a page from Jordan. In a strange way, that might be the best way for him to stand apart.
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