'Last Dance' director reveals why LeBron wasn't mentioned in series

The omission of LeBron James from "The Last Dance" documentary series was a conscious decision by director Jason Hehir.

During a recent appearance on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," Hehir explained that he chose not to mention James in the series to avoid the greatness debate between the Los Angeles Lakers star and Michael Jordan.

"Once you open that door, then you have to have that discussion, and I was never interested in having that discussion," Hehir said. "If people, if they're at a bar and having this discussion about the GOAT, if they want to cite things that they saw in 'The Last Dance,' great. But I never wanted ... because what are you going to ask LeBron? And you know what he's going to say. He's going to say, 'I admired the guy, I wore 23 because of him, I grew up watching him.' We'll show a picture of him wearing Jordans. There's gonna be no surprises there."

Hehir added that another reason James was left out was because he wasn't connected to the 1990s Chicago Bulls teams.

"Our present tense was the '90s, and LeBron was not a part of that story," Hehir said.

"The Last Dance" premiered in April 2020 and was met with critical acclaim, winning an Emmy award for outstanding documentary or nonfiction series later that year.