Posted Jul 24th 2009 11:00AM by TMZ Staff
They just did it -- Nike has finally decided to give back the tapes they confiscated showing LeBron James getting dunked on by a college kid.
Nike henchmen took the tapes from two accredited journalists moments after Xavier's Jordan Crawford threw it down on King James at his Nike sponsored summer skills camp earlier this month.
The decision to take the tapes ignited a huge controversy and speculation that the Swoosh didn't want LeBron, a huge Nike spokesperson, to be seen in a bad light.
Nike claims it only snatched the tapes based on a policy that no pickup games be filmed.
But now -- 2 days after TMZ released the first copy of the dunk -- Nike is finally doing the right thing. However, it's unclear when they will hand the tapes back to the journalists.
Filed under: Talk Sports
Tags: cover up, CoverUp, dunk, jordan crawford, JordanCrawford, lebron james, LebronJames, nike, slam dunk, SlamDunk, tapes
Posted Jul 24th 2009 1:56AM by TMZ Staff
It's the first time we've seen LeBron James since the once-confiscated tape of him being dunked on hit the web -- but just because it's out there doesn't mean dude was ready to talk about it last night in front of Koi.
Filed under: Talk Sports
Tags: dunk, lebron james, LebronJames, slam dunk, SlamDunk
Posted Jul 22nd 2009 3:02PM by TMZ Staff
It's the footage you've been waiting for -- the tape LeBron James tried to destroy -- the moment King James gets slam dunked on by an amateur!!!!!!!!
Here's the back story -- LeBron had a bunch of basketball prospects over at his LeBron James Skills Academy camp earlier this month.
LJ joined in on a pick-up game during the camp, when Jordan Crawford -- a 20-year-old baller from Xavier University -- got the rock and decided to go right after LeBron, soaring right over the all-star and delivering a nasty two-handed slam in front of everyone!
Several media outlets reported that LeBron and Nike -- who sponsored the camp -- sent henchmen to confiscate tapes from anyone who may have been recording the dunk, fearing the footage would cause some serious damage to LeBron's image.
But one copy survived -- and the tape proves all the reports are true ... LeBron is human after all, and Jordan Crawford was the guy who proved it.
Filed under: Talk Sports, Exclusives
Tags: basketball, dunk, jordan crawford, JordanCrawford, lebron james, LebronJames, slam, slam dunk, SlamDunk, tape, video, xavier university, XavierUniversity
