LeBron James learns that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.
View full sizeLeBron James party poster.Oopsie Update: ESPN finally let deadspin.com and the world know just why the story about LeBron James partying in Lost Wages was yanked:
"The story should have never been published. The draft was inadvertently put on the server before going through the usual editorial process. We are in the midst of looking into the matter."
That's code for "Coach wants you in his office. Bring your playbook."
Meanwhile, here's our original post on the imbroglio.
Cleveland, Ohio -- Ex-Cavalier LeBron James was in Las Vegas this weekend, having a pah-tay with a few hundred of his closest friends, including a tattooed girl and some naked ladies in a bathtub.
You can't make this stuff up.
Or can you? ESPN.com's Arash Markazi hung out with the self-proclaimed King as he was being wined, dined and intertwined by executives of Nike and attended to by a flock of bodyguards and hangers-on like some sort of jumpshooting Cleopatra on a tour of the Nile.
Markazi's story was up on the Internet ... but only for a while. It's a fairly innocuous piece; nothing untoward and nothing less than what we might expect from any athlete suffering from a terminal case of entitlement. Certainly nothing surprising to those in Northeast Ohio who suffered the indignity of the snub that was his ESPN exercise in narcissism known as "The Decision."
Deadspin.com and yahoo.com managed to save screen caches of the story.
The most risque parts of it involved James' table being next to a tubful of naked women submerged under a blanket of rose petals. Oh, and Maverick Carter, James' manager and former St. Vincent teammate, dancing around him with a bottle of high-end vodka. Which he spilled!
Alcohol abuse!
So the question is, why was it pulled? Why did ESPN spike the story? Thescore.com suspects it's because one paragraph talks about James' BFF, Chris Paul, being with him . . . and ignores Chris Bosh, his new teammate at the Miami Cheat, er, Heat.
To be precise, thescore.com asks if ESPN yanked the story because of this section:
"Seated to the right of James is Chris Paul, whose brother, C.J., is seated across from him. The New Orleans Hornets point guard has seen how James has positioned himself to win a championship by signing with the Miami Heat and joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and has reportedly considered a similar move himself.
The truth is, in James’ dream world, the duo he would love to play with for the next decade would be Wade and Paul, his two closest friends in the NBA. Paul has been like a brother to James since the two were in Las Vegas four years ago for USA Basketball training camp, when as a rookie he carried James’ and Wade’s bags to and from the team bus."
This is an interesting and potentially explosive claim by Markazi, since it implies that Bosh isn’t part of LeBron’s closest circle of friends and may not factor into his long-term plans. Say what you want about whether or not a LeBron-Wade-Bosh trio is a more potent combo than LeBron-Wade-Paul, but it’s become evident that LeBron wants things done his way all the time — regardless of whether or not it’s the best way.
That's all well and good, but Starting Blocks has another idea: ESPN, being a business and lacking a soul, sold a portion of itself to LeBron in a bid to get "The Decision," and Daddy decided he didn't like the story.
Is that true? Probably not. But it makes about as much sense as anything else in this whole LeBron James circus.
Anybody want some peanuts?