Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

LeBron James had football — and Peyton Manning — on the mind Wednesday night.

Seeing Carolina Panthers star quarterback Cam Newton courtside had something to do with that.

Getting banged around by Hawks center Zaza Pachulia contributed to the connection.

“I stopped playing football a long time ago,” LeBron said of those testy collisions with the noted instigator, “but I still have football traits.”

“Orchestrating” the noisy home crowd to quiet down for Dwyane Wade’s late free throws added to the football vibe.

LeBron noted during his postgame TV interview that Manning once did something similar while playing college ball at Tennessee.

“I’m just sayin’,” LeBron said. “Dolphins need a quarterback, and Peyton’s available.”

Later, I asked LeBron if he was trying to recruit Manning to Miami.

“Oh, you guys heard me?” he said with a smile. “I gave my pitch, my one and only pitch. We’ll see what happens.”

Are the two superstars friends?

“No, not a friend of mine,” LeBron said. “But I’m a Miami Heat player, and I want Miami sports to be great: The U, the Dolphins, the Marlins, the Heat, of course.”

Sorry, Panthers. Your first-place team never came up for some reason.

“Peyton Manning is a great player,” LeBron continued. “No matter what happened this past year, his resume speaks for itself and it would be great to have him down here.”

He was then asked if a Manning-led Dolphins team would provide legitimate competition for the Heat on the crowded South Florida sportscape.

“That’s not competition,” LeBron said. “That’s like you rooting for your family members. That’s not competition at all. It would be great to have him, but we’ll see.”

You can watch the video HERE (Peyton part around 1:50 mark)

WRITTEN BY  Mike Berardino & FULL STORY HERE