The “Last Dance” Fans Debate: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James

The series eventually goes over some of the less savory aspects of Jordan’s legacy. But even then, he and several of his defenders are given ample time and space to explain them, or paint them in a more favorable light, such as Jordan’s bullying of Jerry Krause, the Bulls’ general manager, about whom Jordan made cracks about his weight.

When teammates are described in unflattering situations, including drug use, Jordan and the documentary team make clear that he steered clear. As Jordan says, he didn’t go to clubs. He didn’t smoke or drink (at the time, he notes, though a glass of what appears to be bourbon sits next to him during some interviews).

“I was looking just to get some rest, get up and go play,” Jordan says. In other words, you should Be Like Mike.

That’s by design. The documentary is a product for Jordan. And Jordan doesn’t attach his brand to something that doesn’t benefit him personally.

He said it himself.

“Because you can always put your name on something, but most of the things that I do — practically all the things that I do — are very authentic in terms of my involvement,” he told Cigar Aficionado in 2017, after he gave the documentary the go-ahead. “I don’t want to just lend my name to a product. Because at the end of the day, that product is always going to represent my DNA. So I like to have some interest, I like to have some input, I like to have some participation. There’s nothing that goes out with my name on it that we don’t oversee, we don’t deal with.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/sports/basketball/michael-jordan-last-dance-legacy-lebron.html