O'Donnell: LeBron goes high, Michael goes 'bye' as legacies air

TWO BASKETBALL IMAGES passing in the air continue their very real duel of legacies this weekend.

In portals disposed to the back bounces of Chicago, the most prominent will be the concluding Episodes 9 and 10 of "The Last Dance."

That's the paean to Michael Jordan that will now deal with the messy end of the championship run of his prematurely Reins-sacked Bulls (ESPN, Sunday, 8 p.m.).

In an olivered twist on old-meets-new, rumors continue that Bryon Russell will be played by Zach LaVine.

LeBron James will offer a more future-oriented vision steeped in the realities of today Saturday night.

He will be one of the hands prompting the hopes when a consortium including all major networks and an alliance of other streaming and social media presents "Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020" (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, et al, 7 p.m.).

Spoiler dessert: Michael will "win" his jazz, which has quickly devolved from "docuseries" into what assorted observers are now referring to as "an imaging venture," "a TV event" or even - gasp - "a hagiography."

But the James initiative will once again underscore the growing dichotomy between LeBron, the facilitating societal activist, and Michael, the comfortably cocooned capitalist.

No rap at Jordan - an individual's last friend in American life will always be the buck.

But the outreach of James is compelling.

Downright inspirational, some might say.

The core purpose of the 60-minute special is to serve as a communal surrogate for the estimated 3 million high school seniors who are being denied the chance to throw their caps into the air and gowns toward the weeds this spring.

No less than former President Barack Obama will join James, along with a faculty lounge of celebratory talent including Bad Bunny, Pharrell Williams and YBN Cordae, among others.

The Beach Boys won't sing "Graduation Day." But even Megan Rapinoe - the Dick Butkus of U.S. women's soccer - will be on board.

Primary conceptualists are Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and Russlynn Ali, an assistant secretary of the Department of Education under Obama.

SpringHill Entertainment - James' growing production company - also helps to coordinate.

"The Last Dance" has been averaging just under 6 million first-run viewers through its initial four weeks.

"Graduate Together," with its multiplatform iterations, has a chance to top that number.

But in a sudden age of improv in so many American households, Saturday night's telecast will also be a window for family room congratulations, pizza and a thresholding nip of elderberry.

Maybe even with some sort of gateway gift to independent thought such as Sarah Kendzior's dazzling, cross-generational "Hiding in Plain Sight" (McMillan, e-book, $14.99) tossed in.

It all comes down to a question of aerial bearings.

And terrestrial legacies.

STREET-BEATIN': Speaking of "The Last Dance," viewership has dipped every night of its run. (And director Jason Hehir's insistence that he had final say on content is as laughable as if Meghan Markle said Baby Archie really did bake his own first birthday cake.) ...

ESPN's decision to blow up its "Monday Night Football" booth is more evidence that the franchise remains in free fall. And reports of a new crew featuring Steve Levy, Kurt Warner and Louis Riddick ain't no parachute. ...

WSCR-AM (670)'s doughty Mitch Rosen told media that he's making "house calls" on broadcast-from-home talent. (Haven't his flailing survivors suffered enough?) ...

Sarah Kustok is back in town to virtually tape a fresh "Blue Demon Exchange" on the DePaul connection to the Jordan Bulls with Dave Corzine and Bob Sakamoto. ("Moto" was The Tribune's Bulls beat writer for the first four seasons of No. 23; He succeeded Bob Logan, still the greatest daily newspaper chronicler in the team's history.) ...

Hawthorne's Jim Miller minced no words in a letter to horsemen about Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Executive Order regarding the operation of race tracks in Illinois: "Nothing in the order states Arlington cannot open their backstretch but they have chosen not to do so and cannot be forced to open." ...

And no less than Charles Barkley - technically defending Jerry Krause - to Dan Patrick: "The notion that the little man broke up the Bulls is asinine and absurd. Jerry Reinsdorf broke up the Bulls because he didn't want to pay anybody."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.