In 2009, LeBron James hosted the LeBron James Skills Academy, where he got talented players from across the country to participate. This edition had a lot of great players, including Jordan Crawford. However, what made Crawford so famous, wasn’t his skill as a college player or his overall ability. It was the fact that he dunked on The King during the camp that gave him his notoriety. It was a huge moment and one that many people had actually caught on tape. But, Nike, desperate to maintain the dominant image of LeBron, confiscated all the tapes of the dunk. 14 years later, Crawford spoke about the moment on the Club 520 Podcast with Jeff Teague, opening up about how Nike still owes him $500 for dunking on their superstar athlete.
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Jordan Crawford claims Nike owes him $500 for dunking on LeBron James in 2009
Jordan Crawford is a former NBA player who had a solid nine-year career in the league. Having played for the Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, and Golden State Warriors, Crawford recently appeared on Jeff Teagu’s podcast, Club 520 to talk about his experiences as a former basketball player.
However, before they got into the nitty-gritty details, Crawford was asked about one of his most infamous moments as a professional. This moment is none other than the time he dunked on LeBron James back in 2009. Still in college at the time, the Xavier Musketeer’s star gained notoriety after he dunked on The King during the latter’s own Nike run camp.
It was so embarrassing, that Nike even had the tapes confiscated. But, that is of no matter to Crawford. Instead, he is calling on Nike to pay him the $500 they reportedly owe him. According to the former shooting guard, Nike offered any player who dunked on LeBron $500, and he still hasn’t received his check. As such, even Teague got in on the action, and called for Nike to “pay your debts.”
Jordan Crawford: “They owe me $500 too man. We bet, before that happened, whoever dunk on LeBron get $500. I never got my $500!”
Jeff Teague: “Pay your debts.”
It certainly is an interesting situation to be in. And, while Nike is unlikely to send Crawford the $500, he has an incredible story to tell that is sure to captivate many an audience.
LeBron asked for the tapes to be confiscated leading to much backlash
As mentioned earlier, all the tapes from the 2009 edition of the LeBron James Skills Academy were confiscated. According to some reports, it was the King himself who issued the order. Ryan Miller, a freelancer at the time, was present and had his tape taken away. In his opinion, LeBron did not want the tapes to go online.
So, he called over Lynn Merritt who proceeded to take away every tape from the camp. After it was over, LeBron as well as Nike, received a ton of backlash. This forced the company to claim they did this for all their camps.
“There’s nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online. It’s a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I’m kind of p*ssed. I lost my tape.”
Unfortunately for LeBron, he would get exposed years later. A clip of that very same dunk surfaced online, showing Crawford dunking on him. However, by the time it did surface, all the hype surrounding the incident had died down. Now, it is just reminisced upon as a fun memory for all involved.
