Lebron James Not Apologizing for Kendrick Perkins Tweets
Lebron James has said that he is not apologizing for tweets that offended fellow NBA player Kendrick Perkins last week and alleges that he is being used as a target in the league.
James, a Miami Heat forward, is under fire after tweeting about a dunk that Los Angeles Clippers Center Blake Griffith made over Oklahoma City Thunder Center Perkins.
"Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard," James tweeted on Jan. 30. "Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over number six."
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Perkins was not happy with his fellow NBA player's tweets, saying that James' seemed to be looking for attention.
"At the end of the day, the guys who are playing for the right reasons who are trying to win championships are not worrying about one play," Perkins said in a Yahoo! Sports report. "They also are not tweeting about themselves talking about going down to No. 2. I just feel (James) is always looking for attention and he wants the world to like him."
After the news surfaced about Perkins' discomfort with James' opinion, the Miami Heat lost to the Orlando Magic in a 102-89 defeat on Wednesday. After the game, James continued to speak about Perkins.
"I mean, did you read the tweet? Did I call him out," James questioned the press after the game. "I can see why he felt embarrassed. I don't think I was the only one to react to the unbelievable play by Blake and that's what it was all about."
The heat forward said he was trying to connect with his fans, and would not apologize for offending Perkins.
"I would never apologize for anything like that when I'm connecting with my fans," he said.
After Perkins' issues with the tweets and legendary NBA hall-of-famer Larry Bird commenting that he would rather play with Lakers' guard Kobe Bryant than the Heat all-star, James said he felt like a target.
"I'm an easy target; if someone wants to get a point across -- just throw LeBron's name in there," James said in an ESPN report. "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.'"
