Ben Affleck lightly roasted Michael B. Jordan about being given the same name as basketball legend Michael Jordan at the American Cinematheque Awards on Thursday.

The Black Panther actor was honoured with this year's American Cinematheque Award at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and received glowing speeches from his Hollywood friends and collaborators before taking to the stage.

Affleck, the first speaker of the night, set the tone by delivering a hilarious speech in which he poked fun at Jordan's parents for giving him the same name as the Chicago Bulls star when he was born in 1987.

"In 1987, another guy with a similar name had 35 points a year and got picked for his fourth straight all-star game, won defensive player of the year, and his first MVP award. And his folks were like, 'We're gonna name our boy, Michael Jordan,'" Affleck quipped, reports Deadline. "This was not an exercise in low expectations... this was not an exercise in bulldozer parenting where the parents want to make things easy for the boy."

He continued, "They named him Michael Jordan. They might as well have named him, f**k you. First day at school, 'Hey Dave Williams, how's it going?' 'All right, F**k you, how you doing?' I mean, was Muhammad Ali taken? Damn... That's a way of telling your son, 'We expect big things.' Well, they got them."

Jordan's parents, Donna and Michael A. Jordan, were in the audience along with his brother and sister.

Affleck's speech was followed by appearances from Mahershala Ali, Tessa Thompson, Octavia Spencer, Bradley Cooper, Delroy Lindo and Daniel Kaluuya, while Tom Cruise and Angela Bassett sent in pre-taped video messages.

Jordan's frequent collaborator Ryan Coogler then presented the award, and the 38-year-old gave an emotional acceptance speech.

The nonprofit cultural arts organisation bestows the award every year to "an extraordinary artist" who is "committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion pictures".

Jordan is one of the youngest recipients, and he follows in the footsteps of Eddie Murphy, Jessica Chastain, Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Scarlett Johansson, among others.