The central part of the piece is centered at Tao, a nightclub and restaurant at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, with depictions of James, surrounded by Paul, four of James' childhood friends, a man who at one time was in a relationship with James' mother, Gloria, and two employees of Nike, his shoe endorser.
At one point in the story, the writer describes a scene in which a pair of apparently nude women are stationed in a bathtub full of water and rose petals, which appears to be a regular occurrence at Tao.
In another scene, depicted in the picture that accompanies this story, a giant red crown-shaped cake is brought into an area near James while go-go dancers hold aloft placards that read KING.
Markazi describes another scene in which a waiter, apparently suspended aloft by wires, flies in to deliver numerous bottles of champagne. At that point, James reportedly said, "I wish they'd have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy."
An ESPN source said the decision to pull the web piece was entirely made by the company's editorial staff, with no input or demand from James or his marketing staff.
Saved image of the original article. Clickity me!
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.
Nothing surprising about the bag carrying. Rookie hazing is a fixture in the NBA. Even the Dream Team made Christian Laettner their bag boy. iirc the entire team made Chris Paul carry their bags by tying all of it around him. Funny sight really. Saw it in a USA Basketball special.
Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James' party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the "King" sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.
Davis shakes his head and walks on.
Big Baby is sooo lame.
He's there to party and have fun. What a baby.
