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This season, NBC is broadcasting the NBA for the first time since 2002, which has led the network to try and capture a very specific sort of Gen-X nostalgia for the mid-’90s. To do so, it brought back two legends of the era: John Tesh, whose “Roundball Rock” is so ingrained in the culture that it’s responsible for Tim Robinson’s single greatest Saturday Night Live moment, and, of course, Michael Jordan. It’s been notoriously difficult to get Jordan to commit to much of anything over the last few decades; the scope of The Last Dance was expansive enough to almost make you forget that he was paid $10 million to sit in his house and settle scores for a few hours. When Jordan was announced as part of NBC’s coverage heading into the season, there was much speculation as to what exactly he’d been contributing. Would he call games? Would he even be in the studio?

It turns out the network is paying Jordan to … sit in his house some more. During two high-profile games so far, lead broadcaster Mike Tirico has “interviewed” Jordan at halftime in pretaped segments called “MJ: Insights to Excellence.” The segments, which are never tied to the news and seem to have all been taped in one preseason session, feature Jordan, in his words, “paying it forward,” passing down his vast knowledge to a new generation of fans. But what Jordan’s interviews really do is complain about the Kids Today — he’s just another boomer talking about the way things were Back in His Day. This was most apparent in his dismissiveness of “load management,” the now-commonplace practice of resting star players during the regular season so they’ll be fresh for the playoffs. Jordan made it clear he would never stand for such foolishness, saying, “I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was something that I felt like the fans are there that watch me play.”

Jordan’s reemergence comes amid the twilight of his heir apparent, LeBron James. As LeBron enters his 23rd year in the league, the increasing consensus among basketball observers is that he, not Jordan, is the best basketball player in history. Wherever you stand on this particular forever-hackneyed debate, it’s clear that it means something profound to Jordan, at least. Any time he says anything, he is trying to burnish his own legacy at the expense of today’s players, whom he regards as too soft, particularly LeBron.

Which makes it even more fascinating to see the contrasts between the coming end of LeBron’s career and Jordan’s, both on and off the court. LeBron entered the NBA as the next superstar in a league that was still in thrall to MJ and was, in fact, often mocked for not being as cutthroat as Jordan. The perfect example of this came during the 2012 All-Star Game, when LeBron — with a chance to shoot a three-pointer to win the game — instead passed to teammate Dwyane Wade, who was open and had a better shot. The pass ended up getting intercepted, but the result wasn’t the point; what mattered was that LeBron turned down his Jordan moment. It earned him instant scorn, including from his friend Carmelo Anthony and, especially, Kobe Bryant, who had gotten through his Jordan-cosplay era but was still maybe the most heroball player in NBA history. “Shoot the fucking ball!” Bryant screamed at LeBron. The implication was clear: You’re no Jordan.

But the thing about LeBron is he never wanted to be Jordan and has, in a way, been a quiet rebuke to MJ, as I’ve written before. He’s moved from team to team. He has never been a player desperate to rip out the heart of an opponent. He is well-liked by teammates and opponents (very much unlike Jordan). He has been politically active. He’s famously devoted to his family (sometimes to a fault — his son Bronny wouldn’t have made it onto any roster other than the one he’s on: his dad’s). He has generally acted like a guy who, in fact, enjoys his life. Jordan was famously unfulfilled once his playing career was over; Wright Thompson’s legendary ESPN feature on Jordan at 50 was the portrait of an absolutely miserable man. LeBron looks like he’d be just fine if he walked away tomorrow, which he just might do.

And you can see this the most in how LeBron is finishing his career. Not only is he winding things down in a way that’s wiser and more self-aware than how Jordan did, but he also may just end up finishing stronger: on a team that wins, while still in peak physical condition, with a fan base that still adores him. When Jordan returned to basketball with the Wizards in his late 30s, he demanded that he be the alpha and the other players revolve around him, despite his aging and slowing. But when LeBron made his debut with the Lakers last month after missing time with sciatica (an old-guy injury if there ever was one), he did the opposite. Notoriously, the Lakers traded for Luka Dončić last year, and it turned LeBron into the second-best player on his team for the first time in his career — surely, in his life. His response on the court has not been to fight for control of his team, as Jordan surely would have, but instead to figure out where he fits in.

The result is that LeBron is now playing for the best team he’s been on in a half-decade. The Lakers are 15-5 and won seven games in a row before losing Monday night in a game where LeBron struggled, behind not only Dončić but also Austin Reaves, who has turned himself into a most unlikely star. The previous two wins featured two Lakers scoring 30 or more points — and neither of them were LeBron. That has never happened in his career up to this point. Both games were wins.

It has been fascinating to watch the undeniably most famous basketball player in the world take a back seat to the team that was winning while he was injured to make sure they keep doing so. LeBron is still very good — he’s been averaging 16.5 points, five rebounds, and eight assists since returning — but he’s not trying to take over. He is just being a part of a terrific team, making it better even though it’s not necessarily his anymore. It is remarkable to watch. And it’s something impossible to imagine Jordan having done.

Still, it’s early for LeBron and the Lakers. He has only played five games this season and sat out Sunday’s matchup with the Pelicans as part of that load management that bothers Jordan so much. This could still not work out. But in the forever competition between Jordan and LeBron, the final chapter is not yet settled. Jordan’s last days on the court featured him flailing on a team that couldn’t even make the playoffs. LeBron looks like he might be competing for one last championship, on a team that needs him but is not built around him. It’s making LeBron’s path look, once again, like the right one.

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