Superstar small forward LeBron James and NBA legend Magic Johnson have joined forces for the Los Angeles Lakers in what promises to be a prosperous partnership. Growing up idolizing Johnson, James shared a special bond and mutual respect for arguably the game’s greatest point guard.

Today, the 33-year-old took time away from the practice facility to wish Johnson a very happy birthday.

James is currently in the middle of building his resume as the game’s greatest player ever. As you can imagine, in doing so, there is a daily debate between NBA fans, analysts, personalities, and both former and current players about who is superior between James and former Chicago Bulls icon Michael Jordan for the mantle. Jordan has been widely regarded as the greatest player of all-time for a while, but with James’ sustained excellence season after season, breaking record after record, the conversation has now become more catered towards personal preference than basketball ability, because, objectively, you can’t say one is distinctively better than the other.

It’s interesting James is always compared to Jordan, as his game has always been more Johnson than Jordan since he entered the league. Despite their all-time talents, James and Jordan are built differently and they go about the game in completely different ways.

Although James has a chance to become the NBA’s leading scorer of all-time, much like Magic, he’s always been a pass-first superstar, whereas Jordan was a high volume scorer by nature. In truth, the similarities between James and Jordan are very few and far between when dissecting their games.

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Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura with the Lakers arena in the background, Gabe Vincent Nuggets NBA Playoffs

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James and Johnson have always shared a mutual respect and unique understanding of the game. Both have two of the highest basketball IQs we’ve ever witnessed in the league, and the pair shares the unique and rare ability to make others better whilst shining the brightest themselves.

Now, Johnson is President of basketball operations for the Lakers, and with James by his side pulling on the purple and gold jersey for the next four years, the expectation and anticipation for championships have never been higher for the organization.