LeBron James gets free Kia for being NBA MVP, gives it away
I'm from Cleveland and the city will stop doing whatever it's doing tonight at 8PM EST to watch the Cavs take on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 – Round 2 of the team's 2009 NBA Playoff run. Yesterday's news that LeBron James won the league MVP award added yet another nugget of pride to an already large pile of pride nuggets assembled by our beloved Cavaliers this season. Along with a super spiffy trophy that will look great on his mantel, James was also given a brand new Borrego SUV by Kia, sponsor of the MVP award and an NBA partner.
As it turns out, NBA MVP winners always get a free car, and they always turn around and immediately give it away. Some players have endorsement deals with automakers, so the league usually asks what charity they'd like to donate their prize to beforehand. Both James and this year's Defensive Player of the Year, Orlando's Dwight Howard, don't have any auto endorsement deals, but that didn't stop them from tossing the keys to their favorite charity. Howard gave his car to the Orlando Day Nursery and James donated his Borrego to the Akron Urban League. Don't cry for The King, though. He arrived amidst a police escort to the MVP award ceremony, which he requested be held at his alma mater – St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, in his custom Ferrari with vanity plates that read "W1TNES".
[Source: Kicking Tires, ESPN]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
c5thunder 6:23PM (5/05/2009)
Atlanta Hawks
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elprogramer 6:33PM (5/05/2009)
I'd have tossed the Kia too, but that's completely unrelated.
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kcdk99 10:59PM (5/05/2009)
Haha, I agree. I would have been like... whaaa??... a Kia? Do you know who I am???? LOL
Erik 1:58PM (5/06/2009)
Haa - exactly. Giving him a Kia is borderline insulting
Iwa 6:38PM (5/05/2009)
Dwight Howard did the same thing too when he won the Defensive Player of the Year award.
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axlewood 7:49PM (5/05/2009)
im happy you can read
Darrell 7:51PM (5/05/2009)
I was gonna say the same thing. I loved how he showed up in his F430 convertible to accept a Kia (as well as the MVP). lol, congrats to King James and Superman.
Go Magic!!
ij70 6:43PM (5/05/2009)
Kia? Kia! It is too funny.
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De 6:50PM (5/05/2009)
"our beloved Cavaliers"?
Go Celtics...
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Neil 9:56AM (5/06/2009)
Go Cavs!
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K4Lic0 7:12PM (5/05/2009)
Go Bobcats!
(HEY! we ALMOST made the playoffs this year!)
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igaryok 7:43PM (5/05/2009)
I'm in Cleveland today, can't wait for this game. Go Cavs.
http://www.enbargain.com
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P.V. 9:18PM (5/05/2009)
That's sad. Once a celebrity tosses an endorsement, AFAIK it usually signals the end of good sales for that product. Then again, maybe KIA can sell its products on their own merits (without needing to be endorsed by a celebrity).
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Erik 2:00PM (5/06/2009)
"usually signals the end of good sales for that product."
There was never a beginning to good sales of the Borrego
RLQ 9:49PM (5/05/2009)
Kobe should get the Kia instead.
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Hugh G 11:06PM (5/05/2009)
Kobe aint gonna get by Artest.
RLQ 6:51PM (5/06/2009)
HAHA yeah
JDM Life 10:12PM (5/05/2009)
I love him...
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- 11:27PM (5/05/2009)
Why does his license plate read "Whiteness?"
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JerryB 11:35PM (5/05/2009)
LOL. It's not "whiteness" it's "witness".
Since LeBron signed with the Cavaliers, their slogan has been "I am a witness". I guess the idea is to attend the games to bear witness to the coming of the age of LeBron, Jordan's heir apparent.
To be honest, watching him destroy the Pistons singlehandedly in the 2007 playoffs was quite a marvelous thing to behold.