After Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of his friends early Monday morning outside of a Cleveland nightclub, Cavs’ superstar LeBron James called the actions of the Browns receiver “childish.”

From ESPN.com:

James said Edwards punched Edward Givens, a friend of James’ and a promoter with a Cleveland marketing firm who was working outside the club around 2:30 a.m. ET.

“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.”

James says he was home when the fight occurred, but got a call from Givens telling him about it at 7 a.m. Monday.

As I wrote earlier today when the news broke, this is incredibly bad timing for Edwards, who is seeking a new long-term contract. Why he would feel the need to strike anyone in the face is beyond me, but to do it when you’re trying to convince a team to pay you millions of dollars is just idiotic.

I wonder what fueled Edwards’ hatred of James. I know Braylon takes exception to LeBron not rooting for Cleveland teams, but I hardly think that’s the only reason why Edwards has decided to openly rip James in the past, not to mention punch his buddy in the face.

Considering Braylon is a Michigan guy, one would think that this isn’t a territorial issue. My guess is that Edwards is just flat out jealous that LeBron holds the key to Cleveland while Braylon has been one of the city’s whipping boys for several years now.

Gerardo Orlando of Cleveland Scores wonders if it’s time for the Browns to give up on Braylon following this incident and rookie Mohamed Massaquoi’s coming out party Sunday vs. Cincinnati.