On May 22, 2009 LeBron James made a shot heard around the world. It didn’t win the series, it didn’t win the World Championship, and all it did was win Game 2. Yet still, you saw it on every channel you turned to, because it was Lebron James.  After the Cavaliers lost the series, James did not even stay on the court to shake the hands of the Orlando Magic players.  Instead, he decided to walk off the court and look like a stuck up player who makes too much money. Random little incidents like this keep happening with James, and it’s starting to take a toll on his image.

This past week at LeBron’s Skills Academy another incident occurred that got the attention of the media, but not in a good way.  The Skills Academy is made up of all the top college prospects that will soon make it to the NBA. All of the players are just glad to be on the same court as James, let alone doing what Xavier’s Jordan Crawford did. During a game at the academy, Crawford was able to do the unthinkable, he dunked on LeBron James. To many this may not be that big of a deal, but when you think of whom Lebron James is this is something that Crawford will never forget about. Of course cameras were there to capture every moment of the dunk, but that’s the only time they were ever going to see it. 

Nike is the number one sponsor of James and runs the camp every year.  After the dunk occurred all tapes were confiscated from all the reporters that caught “the dunk” on camera. According to Nike spkesman Derek Kent, “For the first time in four years, two journalists did not respect our no videotaping policy at an after-hours pickup game following the Lebron James Skills Academy.”  Ryan Miller, who was at the camp for ESPNU, said that he was videotaping all day and the only time they confiscated his tape was after Crawford’s dunk of James. He saw James go over to a Nike rep and tell him something and moments after, the tape was being taken away from Miller.

This story will be a big deal for a few days and then it will be over. It seems that the only reason for the tapes being confiscated is because James didn’t want them online. He’s supposed to be the king of the court and on that day Jordan Crawford took that away from him.  Crawford was interviewed after the dunk and he kept saying how he didn’t realize the magnitude of what he had just done. He didn’t care about the tapes being confiscated. He was just excited to be playing on the same court as him. It’s definitely a moment that Crawford will never forget, and neither will James. Unfortunately Crawford won’t have any proof of this dunk because Nike and James didn’t want to ruin the perfect image of the King.  I guess we’ll just have to wait until Crawford matches up with James in the NBA, and then there will be no chance of confiscating evidence.

What do you think? Is LeBron James' reputation being hurt by taking away the tapes?