MKRob Sports

On Monday, Jordan Crawford, a sophomore at Xavier, via the Indiana Hoosiers, dunked on LeBron during a pick-up game at the LeBron James Skills Academy.

According to the collection of NBA scouts and other folks that were there, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford dunked on James pretty good.

LeBron must have agreed, because he had Nike officials confiscate the two videos that were taken of the dunk. (Parrish blames Nike, but reading between the lines it seems like the censorship was orchestrated by LeBron himself.)

Ryan Miller, a freelance photographer who was working at the camp that day, told CBSSports.com:

“LeBron called [Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt] over and told him something,” Miller said. “That’s how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, ‘Hey, Lynn. Come here.’”

A few minutes later, Miller’s tape was confiscated.

Connecting the dots, it seems clear that LeBron didn’t want video leaking out of him getting dunked on by a college sophomore, so he told a Nike official to get the tape. It was an understandable reflex move (gotta protect the image), but it also unnecessarily makes a mountain out of a molehill.

The Crawford dunk would have been an embarrassment for LeBron. If the video was put on YouTube, it would have been a constant reminder to LeBron that a college sophomore dunked on him. If you think LeBron doesn’t shake hands now, imagine what would happen if it got on YouTube!!!