Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 9:30 am  |  46 responses

LeBron James Will Not Apologize to Kendrick Perkins for Tweet


LeBron James doesn’t particularly care that his tweet last week hurt Kendrick Perkins’ feelings, and made fun of the way he gets blamed for virtually everything in the world. From the Sun-Sentinel and ESPN: “James, who marinated in the Perkins report until commenting on it after the loss, was stunned by the reaction it generated. ‘For me, social media and Twitter is all about connecting with your fans,’ James said. ‘From day one, that’s why I got to Twitter, to connect to my fans. I would never apologize for anything like that when I’m connecting with my fans.’ James said he certainly never ‘called out’ Perkins. ‘I can see why he may have felt embarrassed,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I was the only one that reacted to that unbelievable play by Blake, and that’s what it was all about, me acknowledging how great of a play it was. If Kendrick Perkins had dunked on somebody else on the other end, I would have done the same thing. [...] A polarizing figure, James said he’s gotten used to being targeted by fans, media and even his own peers. ‘I’m an easy target; if someone wants to get a point across — just throw Lebron’s name in there,’ James said. ‘You could be watching cartoons with your kids and you don’t like it, you say, ‘Blame it on LeBron.’ If you go to the grocery store and they don’t have the milk that you like, you just say, ‘It’s LeBron’s fault.’ [...] As for [Larry] Bird’s comments, James merely nodded his head. ‘It’s simple,’ he said. ‘Kobe has five rings and I have none, so it’s easy to say that. If I have five rings and Kobe has none, then it would probably be the other way around.’”

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  • DeeDre Posted: Feb.9 at 9:32 am
    And he shouldn’t. Story over now move on

  • Andy Whitby Posted: Feb.9 at 9:35 am
    Lebron speaks the truth here – very professional and you only have to look on YouTube (any video he is in) to see the level the sarcasm and hate pointed at him has gotten.

  • robb Posted: Feb.9 at 9:41 am
    An apology for enjoying the game? Half of the world went nuts about that play, but Lebron’s getting the blame?
    GTFOH Perkins.

  • ado Posted: Feb.9 at 9:44 am
    yeah kob got 5.. be he proved he can win without shaq.. it would’ve been better if he wins a ring without wade.

  • J.C. Posted: Feb.9 at 9:52 am
    Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaares?

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 9:58 am
    @ado
    Kobe didnt get a ring without gasol. Every player needs another player.
    Basketball is still a team sport.Jordan got his rings with Pippen.
    Ontopic:
    Lebron is right. Perkins find your self another scapegoat.

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 10:01 am
    @ado
    Kobe didnt get a ring without gasol. Every player needs another player.
    Kobe fans might believe basketball is not a team sport but it still is.
    Jordan got his rings with Pippen. Magic got his ring with Kareem. and the list goes on and on.
    Ontopic:
    Lebron is right. Perkins find your self another scapegoat.

  • thor Posted: Feb.9 at 10:05 am
    @Rik Smits. there’s a bit of a difference between Gasol and Dwade. And then throw Chris Bosh in to the mix as well… Ain’t the same.

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 10:05 am
    Ahh a nice double post with some extra Kobe “fan” hate put into it. lol

  • Hursty Posted: Feb.9 at 10:06 am
    I swear, I have a negative care level over this story. Such a non-issue.

  • thor Posted: Feb.9 at 10:08 am
    Plus, when a player comes to a team as a rookie like Pippen then it’s cool in my opinion, he developed into a star, who would have guessed at that point. A super team joining forces in their prime is something different. Why don’t people understand that…?

  • stlheatmaniac Posted: Feb.9 at 10:10 am
    perkins just pissed that every year he get a mouth full of scrotum sack from another athlete dunkin on his grill. perk needs to just stfu, clean the pubes out his mouth and try not to b such a foul machine bringing down every team he ever been on. he supa mad he lost all that weight and he still ugly as f***

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 10:26 am
    @thor true there is some difference between dwade and gasol.But you cant say gasol isnt an elite player. It looks like kobe fans have no loyalty at all to any of his team mates. They always say derek fisher is a corps and gasol is the softest guy ever and bynum is the weakest immature center in the league. But they all helped kobe get those 2 shaqless rings.
    If i was up to a Kobe fan the lakers starting lineup would consist of pg kobe sg kobe sf kobe pf kobe c kobe.

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 10:30 am
    @thor Part 2
    So that cheesy gasol trade was no problem. Kobe still won his rings solo right… Also didnt the laker fans drool over the possibility of chris paul and howard joining the lakers. Every championship after that would be won by kobe solo right?? Come on dude lakers still are the most over the salary cap team in the league. not like the are all scrubs.

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Feb.9 at 10:38 am
    Why is this an issue?

  • smoove Posted: Feb.9 at 10:44 am
    perkins might sound like hes crying, but hes right, lebron does sound like a groupie AND an attention lover, hes an elite player, you didnt see WADE or Bosh run to their computer and start tweeting. saying “move over number 6, im in second place” FOH.. even if he wanted to give props, all he had to do was compliment the dunk and keep it movin.

  • Paul H Posted: Feb.9 at 10:48 am
    I personally think this Is the most important and significant thing to occur In basketball since the introduction of the three point line. Maybe even since Naismith had his little brainwave way back when. Either that or Its unimportant back and forth posturing between the games supreme talent and number one opinion polarizer and a COMPLETE NON FACTOR IN THE GAME.

  • LP Posted: Feb.9 at 10:49 am
    Lebron is clearly out of line here. Its his fault my taxes haven’t come back yet..

  • bike Posted: Feb.9 at 10:51 am
    I wish they would come up with another word for Tweeting. Tweet is such a sissy word. Tweet is for Nancy boys and girls. Call is Growling…or.. Roaring. Or maybe Crowing.

  • thor Posted: Feb.9 at 10:58 am
    @Rik Smits, I hated that trade, believe me, of course gasol is an elite player but come on now, we all know who we would choose. Plus I’m not taking lakers’ side here I were also about to go nuts when the CP3 trade went through to begin with. I’m just saying that there is a notable difference between teaming up with your friends who happens to be stars of their own… in their prime… next to players growing up together on a team.

  • MUBWAR Posted: Feb.9 at 11:10 am
    i can’t believe im about to say this, I second bike last comment. the only reason I don’t have a twitter account is because of the word tweet.

  • Tempest Posted: Feb.9 at 11:12 am
    LONG…LIVE…THE…KING!!!

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 11:15 am
    @thor
    The cavaliers simply didnt draft or got a Pippen caliber player in a trade.
    So lebron never got that opportunity. but my point is that Kobe fans think Kobe got those two rings solo. and didnt get a crum of help from Gasol, bynum, fisher or artest or even the best coach in history phil jackson.
    Kobe even requested a trade to the lakers the most successful franchise in the nba. Thats even worse then signing with a team in free agency.
    But i get your point.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.9 at 11:15 am
    this is dumb

  • Enigmatic Posted: Feb.9 at 11:21 am
    Personally, I blame Mario Chalmers for everything that goes wrong.

  • DerekG Posted: Feb.9 at 11:26 am
    Leave it to Perk to make Lebron look mature! A complete moron! I’m surprised he didn’t find a way to blame the dunk on getting traded to OKC!

  • Uwho Posted: Feb.9 at 11:27 am
    Lol the espn posts are on fire. (insert comment) -lebron’s fault!! Lol

  • Jukai Posted: Feb.9 at 11:32 am
    Holy crap— Lebron saying if you want to win, play with Kobe because he has five rings…
    Kobe saying if he had to pick the perfect teammate, pick Lebron…. WOW….
    Bad day to be a hater, amiright?

  • thor Posted: Feb.9 at 11:51 am
    @Rik Smits. And I agree. Kobe didn’t do it by himself, no one has… And Lebron is definitely not going to either.

  • Rocksinmypants Posted: Feb.9 at 12:00 pm
    What idiot thinks anybody wins a team sport by themselves with no help?

  • thor Posted: Feb.9 at 12:12 pm
    no one in this comment section. chill

  • LakeShow Posted: Feb.9 at 12:33 pm
    I really liked LeBron in this interview. He seemed strangely… down to earth.

  • shutup Posted: Feb.9 at 12:55 pm
    Him not backing down is big, I hope that means that he is finally maturing and developing that competitive fire that is obviously in him; and will take him to the promise land

  • Max Posted: Feb.9 at 1:34 pm
    Rik Smits, Kobe did win without Gasol..

  • Joe T Posted: Feb.9 at 2:02 pm
    Perkins needs to stop cryin…. U got posterized fatty! Half the world commented on it get over it and worry about becomin a more complete player than juz givin hard fouls amd rebounding….

  • ratguts Posted: Feb.9 at 2:39 pm
    I got a friend who spends his life stabbin’ bron’s picture with a bowie knife.

  • Rik Smits Mullet Posted: Feb.9 at 3:32 pm
    @max
    i know 3 with shaq 2 with gasol.

  • Jerome Posted: Feb.9 at 3:59 pm
    The thing about Lebron is he can’t make a comment without referencing something about himself … ever.

  • 23 Posted: Feb.9 at 4:00 pm
    When pau was in memphis he had a couple mvp caliber years. I think people forgot how good he was/is. And I remember gasol bailing out kobes failed shot against okc in the playoffs. And I also remember artest bailing out kobes shot against phx in the playoffs. People act like kobe carried his teams on his back. Ever since shaq left all I hear is the lakers cannot win without a healthy bunum. So kobe has always had MANY very good teammates on all his championship teams. I didn’t even mention lamar odom, who was arguably the best bench player in the nba while with the lakers

  • 23 Posted: Feb.9 at 4:03 pm
    @ Jerome, are you saying you always talk to lebron? Or are you just going by the quotes the media puts out? The same media who loves to stir up controversy? Because you did use the word “ever” so I’m assuming you’ve heard ever single sentence lebron has said.

  • nbk Posted: Feb.9 at 4:24 pm
    No Pau never had any MVP caliber seasons in Memphis. He arguably had his best seasons in LA anyway.

  • Maniac Posted: Feb.9 at 6:18 pm
    LeBron needs to win to really shut people up (though he will still have his critics) and @23 you have no clue what you’re talking about

  • nbk Posted: Feb.9 at 7:01 pm
    Maniac he’s right about everything aside from the Pau Gasol thing. Except he’s degrading Kobe’s importance. By not mentioning it. No the Lakers couldn’t win without Bynum. The Bulls couldn’t win without Dennis Rodman, or Horace Grant. Every player that has ever won a championship has great teammates around them. It’s imperative to winning a championship. You fail to mention that without Kobe the Lakers wouldn’t have even been relevant to the conversation. Rather then saying they are a mere Andrew Bynum away. Kobe deserves the majority of the “player credit” for his last 2 championships. It’s a blatant fact.

  • Ldub Posted: Feb.9 at 10:06 pm
    What exactly is there to apologize for? Regardless if Brons response was one word, a sentence, paragraph or a book…Perk shouldnt take exception to anyone saying anything about the dunk/layup by griffin. He handled it like a man by saying he will keep challenging shots and it happens, thats apart of the game. He shouldnt have even entertained any comments pertaining to what “anyone” in the NBA or outside of it had to post/tweet.

  • BBaller Posted: Feb.10 at 7:05 am
    Have to laugh, i just watched I SPY again with Eddie Murphy and loved how he referenced himself in a third party. ” Kelly Robinson!!57 and 0 baby” just reminds me of Lebron.

  • sinjun Posted: Feb.11 at 4:50 am
    Kobe can’t win a championship with out a dominating big guy, when shaq left he got 2, gasol & bynum. Lebron has wade but as for bosh…hes a bust!

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