LeBron James Video: Watch King James Rule the Court at the Drew Summer League

It looks like LeBron James is officially trying to repair his public image.

I’m not sure if dunking over players at a charity event is the best way to do so, but I will give him credit.

Personally, I’m not a huge “King James” guy, so my first reaction to this video was with that bias.

Instead of seeing a great basketball player hanging out with people he can have a great, positive influence on, I saw a horned man with a pitchfork running around and tripping people.

Watching him ham it up on the court and pull moves on a bunch of kids to the fanfare of his own trumpets didn’t really tickle my fancy at first, but once I digested it all and took time to watch it with an unbiased eye, I saw the meaning in the video.

I know that there is a ton of LeBron James hate out there, and believe me I have no problem carrying that banner, but for just this once, let’s put down our weapons and take a break from storming the King's castle.

Maybe LeBron James isn’t the bad guy that we’ve painted him out to be.

If you don’t know anything about the Drew League, I encourage you to check out their Web site.

Basically, “The Drew” is a West Coast-based league made up of 20 invitation only teams with the focus on forming relationships and helping the community through basketball.

Here’s an excerpt from their history page:

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The Drew League's goal was to help young people form meaningful relationships on the court that would spill over into the neighborhood, as well as build an institution that would bring top local high school, college and pro players back to the community. 

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So from all the evidence I could dig up, I’ve come to the conclusion that LeBron’s appearance here was not a publicity stunt but hopefully a challenge to the community to step up their game on both the court and in life.

Sure, it probably does a lot to help his image, and I’m sure his PR director was thrilled, but I’m willing to look past that.

LeBron James is probably one of the most hated athletes in the world, and to be fair, he has given us good reason.

But just because he’s a hated athlete, that doesn’t mean he is a bad person.

Sometimes that is a hard line to distinguish I guess.

We will see how I feel if and when the NBA officially starts playing ball again, but for now, I’m OK with putting my torch down and giving King James’ castle gates a rest.

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AKonSports.