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Shortly after the dunk, James tweeted, “Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I’m No. 2 now. Move over #6.” James was referring to his alley-oop dunk he threw down after jumping over Chicago Bulls guard John Lucas III a day earlier. “You don’t see Kobe [Bryant] tweeting,” Perkins said. “You don’t see Michael Jordan tweeting. If you’re an elite player, plays like that don’t excite you. 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. “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.” Yahoo! Sports

Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James, Kendrick Perkins 

Chris Tomasson: I asked LeBron if this his best NBA season: “If you look at the numbers, you would say it is. But I’ll let you guys break down the numbers’’ Twitter

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

Ethan J. Skolnick: Someone screams "F U LeBron" as national anthem starts. Philly. Twitter

Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, LeBron James 

Chris Miller: Rose DWade LBJ Melo Dwight Howard. East All Star Starters. No surprise Twitter

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose 

LeBron James has plenty of dazzling slams so far this season. Wednesday, he chose not to slam the door on participating in the All-Star Slam Dunk contest in two weeks in Orlando. "I have thought about it before and a few times in the past I kind of had an ankle injury that kind of kept me out of it and a couple of times I was just like, 'You know what, I'm going to go in here and rest my legs for this weekend and then get back to the regular season," James said. "But, I mean, they say a lot of the greats have done it and I've watched it over the years." Palm Beach Post

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

In 2009, James vowed to compete in the 2010 contest, then quietly backed out. "I don't know, I'll be on the fence every year about it," James said. "It's always a fence year for me. I know they're getting tired of me, though, so I'm not even going to start up nothing." Palm Beach Post

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

LeBron James is moving his Nike basketball camp from the University of Akron to Las Vegas this summer so he can participate at the camp while training for the Olympic basketball team. Akron Beacon Journal

LeBron James, Las Vegas 

With Wade back from the sprained right ankle that kept him out for six games, James and Wade have regained their common stride in victories against the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Hornets, part of the five-game winning streak the Heat carry into Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks. "It is at an all-time high right now, honestly," James said of the chemistry between the two. "It is just a chemistry that we have. Last year was a blueprint for us. It is not like we look for each other more than others, it kind of just happens. "We're two of the fastest guys in the league when it comes to a break and it is kind of pick-your-poison with the defender, either allow me to get a dunk or allow D-Wade to get a dunk. We are two unselfish players. If a guy is open, we pass it." South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade 

John Lucas III has been ­hearing plenty about LeBron James’ epic dunk over him in Sunday’s game. “My cousins, homeboys, everybody was texting me and sending me pictures,” Lucas III said. “It is what it is. It’s all good.” Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, LeBron James, John Lucas 

In one locker room, Chicago’s Derrick Rose almost wept. The NBA’s reigning MVP had tears in his eyes. In the other, fancier home locker room, Miami’s LeBron James smiled and joked about making the 40-minute bike ride home on a rainy night in South Florida. It turns out James rode his bicycle to AmericanAirlines Arena before the game. “I do it all the time,” James said. Life in the NBA can be cruel and funny sometimes. The Heat’s 97-93 victory over the Bulls on Sunday was a prime example; Rose and James, two of the NBA’s biggest stars, played the leading roles — and flubbed their lines in the big show. It was just about a year ago that the Heat was the laughingstock of the NBA. They’d just lost a close game to the Bulls and coach Erik Spoelstra, in a misguided effort to show how much his team cared, blurted out that players were crying in the locker room. It was one of those times the off-the-court story was better than the on-the-court story. SheridanHoops

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, LeBron James, Derrick Rose 

Rose was on an even bigger free throw roll. He was a perfect 12-for-12 when he stepped to the line with the game in the balance and inexplicably bricked both shots. “Give me one of those,” Rose lamented. “I missed both of those (expletive). Come on.” James pulled a similar choke job on the line, missing a pair of free throws with 17.6 seconds left and the Heat clinging to that same 94-93 lead. He later called himself out on Twitter, saying in in part, “C’mon #6 make your d*mn free-throws!!” But James was able to make up for his blunder soon after his second errant free throw caromed off the rim. His second missed free throw resulted in a Bosh rebound. But an inadvertent whistle made it a jump ball. In that situation any player on the court can jump, and James, who defended everyone from Rose to center Omer Asik during the course of the game, insisted he handle the job. He did, and he won the jump against Taj Gibson. “I had to get it after missing two free throws,” he said. “I had to do something after missing two free throws.” SheridanHoops

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, LeBron James, Derrick Rose 

Tom Haberstroh: Interesting words from LeBron about media minimizing a game to the final moments. "People forget that this is a 48- minute game." Twitter

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

LeBron James spent most of the first quarter of today’s Heat-Bulls game dunking the hell out of the ball, and this alley-oop from Dwyane Wade was the clear highlight thanks to a one-handed throwdown while leaping over a helpless John Lucas. Yes, Lucas stands just 5’11 and has a sore groin, but LeBron still flew over him like he was a traffic cone. The Big Lead

Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, LeBron James, John Lucas 

"LeBron is working out of the post not just more ... it's a lot more. The most I've ever seen [from him]. I think, in the end, it's what they needed because [Chris] Bosh doesn't really want to go down there and it keeps LeBron from jacking up those 3-pointers. That's not his focus anymore. "In terms of his demeanor and personality, I don't think things have changed much. When things are going bad, he's still looking at other guys or looking at the bench. But he's going down there and he's still attacking and getting out and running, too. And Bosh has really stepped it up since [Dwyane] Wade's been out. ESPN.com

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

Not good at all, but it’s also not surprising to James that the Knicks aren’t exactly marching double-time to the NBA Finals. The Heat had its own issues when James first started playing with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. So why should the Knicks be any different, especially when they’re trying to do what the Heat did with vastly different components? “It’s never going to work just right over night,” James said. “We were the prime example of that. It took us time. We were 9-8 at one point, but it took us even longer after that to become a good team. To know each other. To learn each other. What works for each other. What don’t work. I think they’re going through the same thing right now. But people want results now. That’s just the league and the world we live in.” New York Daily News

Miami Heat, New York Knicks, LeBron James 

That’s how it works in New York, where the coach and players made matters worse by talking about competing for a title before they ever played a game. “They’ve got some really good pieces,” James said. “But as far as righting the ship, I don’t know. I’ve got to worry about what we have going on right here.” New York Daily News

Miami Heat, New York Knicks, LeBron James 

CSE evaluated about 600 of the best-performing athletes from a pool of 3,000 based on statistics, the popularity of their sports, endorsement earnings and their reach on social media. Nielsen/E-Poll N-Score data, based on surveys that evaluate such factors as players’ name and face awareness, appeal, influence and trustworthiness, were also included to measure athletes’ endorsement potential. Completing the top five were Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers ($19 million in earnings), New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady ($28 million), LeBron James of basketball’s Miami Heat ($61 million), and tennis’s Rafael Nadal ($21.7 million). Brady and Eli Manning, the Giants quarterback who was ranked No. 15, will meet in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5. Bloomberg

Miami Heat, LeBron James 

Now, there is talk that James is less-than-thrilled with certain aspects of the Heat organization. Sources in Miami say that while James still thoroughly enjoys playing alongside fellow stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he doesn’t particularly care for the heavy-handed and disciplined style of team president Pat Riley. FOXSportsOhio

Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, LeBron James 

James can opt out of his contract at the end of the 2013-14 season, and speculation is he will strongly consider it if Riley remains in his current role. And the team James would be eyeballing most in free agency, say those close to the situation, would be the Cavs. Of course, James has never indicated as much, and if he does feel that way, he is wise enough to not say a word. Anyone who saw the secretive manner in which he kept the Cavs guessing already knows that. FOXSportsOhio

Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, LeBron James 

The NBA’s No. 2 earner is LeBron James of the Miami Heat at $49 million. James is the league’s top endorser making an estimated $33 million annually through partnerships with Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, State Farm and Upper Deck. The James empire expanded in April when he became a minority owner in soccer club Liverpool after a marketing agreement with Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group. FSG and LRMR, James’ own marketing company, will oversee future partnerships for the two-time NBA MVP. James took less money than he could have gotten elsewhere to sign with the Heat in 2010 when he inked a six-year, $110 million deal. The reduced contract allowed the Heat to sign Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and stay under the salary cap. The Cleveland Cavaliers were willing to pay James $128 million to stay. The 66-game season will cut James $16 million 20% this season, but he’ll collect his entire endorsement income. Forbes.com

Miami Heat, LeBron James