NBA Essentials: LeBron Responds, and New Injury Issues for Suns and Jazz

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Does Braylon Edwards, of the NFL's Cleveland Browns, have some sort of one-sided beef going with LeBron James? It sure seems like it, if you read the quotes from the man Edwards allegedly assaulted early Monday morning outside a Cleveland area night club.

But while Edwards may have a problem with James, LeBron's response made it seem like the two have never even met, much less exchanged any unpleasantries.

"I've never crossed paths with Braylon before, but it seems like there's a little jealousy going on with Braylon and me and my friends. I have no idea why," James said. "I've never said anything to Braylon at all. But for him to do that is very childish. My friend is 130 pounds. Seriously. It's like hitting one of my kids. It doesn't make sense."

Edward Givens, the guy that Braylon allegedly assaulted, is a close friend of LeBron's, and called him early in the morning to let him know what had happened. It's an odd case, especially if Braylon and LeBron don't even know each other. But jealousy makes people do funny things, and since there isn't exactly any fight in the Browns this season, it's not surprising that Braylon Edwards decided to look elsewhere to take out his aggression.

In other news, and some that's certainly more directly related to basketball, the Suns suffered a fairly decent loss on Saturday, after Robin Lopez was found to have broken a bone in his left foot during an intrasquad scrimmage. The injury will require surgery and Lopez is expected to miss six to eight weeks, which will force him to miss the start of the regular season.

This puts the Suns in a tough spot, as they really don't have any size on the bench at all once you get past Lopez. It's unclear at this point whether the team will look to bring in a big man to fill Lopez's spot for the time being, or if they'll choose to go small and just try to run even more than usual until he gets back. But either way, losing Lopez definitely hurts, because most accounts from those around the team had him showing significant improvement from the way he performed a season ago.

The Jazz can relate to the Suns' pain. Stationed in London for a preseason game against the Bulls, the team saw C.J. Miles go down with a ruptured ligament in his thumb, an injury that will also require surgery and will likely force Miles to miss the start of the regular season.

With Matt Harpring's status still up in the air, the team will likely begin the year with just 11 active players on the roster. With over $82 million committed in payroll dollars for the upcoming season, you can hardly blame them for trying to skate by until Miles is able to return.