Maverick Carter pushes back on report linking LeBron James to ‘Last Dance’-style documentary

On the same day as reports suggested LeBron James and ESPN were nearing an agreement on a “Last Dance”-style documentary chronicling the final chapter of his NBA career, longtime business partner Maverick Carter publicly disputed the claim.

“We are NOT doing anything like the ‘Last Dance,'” Carter wrote Thursday on X. “LeBron doesn’t even know when his last season is.”

Carter’s comments came after The Athletic reported James and ESPN were closing in on an agreement for a behind-the-scenes series documenting what is expected to be the final years of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

The report also followed comments from NBA insider Marc Stein, who wrote that longtime NBA Entertainment producer Andy Thompson has spent the past several years filming James.

Thompson also served as the principal videographer for ESPN’s acclaimed Michael Jordan documentary, The Last Dance.

Carter’s post appears to reject comparisons between the two projects. What it doesn’t necessarily do is rule out a documentary altogether.

Carter specifically referenced The Last Dance format while noting James has not determined when he’ll retire.

Neither Carter nor James addressed whether footage collected over the past several years could eventually be used in another type of documentary.

But if a LeBron documentary is coming, perhaps we shouldn’t expect it to mirror The Last Dance. Or it will mirror it, but maybe not this season.