It’s Happening: LeBron James Agrees to Deal with 76ers
The Lakers’ LeBron James skies for a dunk against the 76ers on Friday night in Philadelphia. James scored 23 points, but the Lakers lost 133-122 in overtime. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Yes, you’re reading that correctly: the Philadelphia 76ers are signing LeBron James.
According to ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania, the 76ers are signing LeBron James to a two-year $8 million contract. The deal also includes a player option after the first season.
The LeBron saga this offseason has been as crazy as the previous two LeBron decisions: at the start of July, James and the Lakers announced that the two had agreed to part ways after eight years and a championship.
James and his agent, Rich Paul, then made it clear that they’d be open to all 29 other NBA teams in free-agent pitches and that James had not made up his mind when he became a free agent. With that being said, very soon after, it was reported that James was likely heading to Golden State to team up with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and a potentially traded Anthony Davis, creating a big four in the Bay Area with the Warriors.
However, things on a Davis trade fell through, and all of a sudden, other teams skyrocketed to the top of the LeBron leaderboard over the next couple of weeks, with the 76ers eventually winning the sweepstakes. While no definitive final list of teams came from James himself, his agent, Rich Paul, made it clear on his podcast “Game Over with Max Kellerman” that a few select teams had interest in acquiring James, and James had serious inquiries about joining their team.
Teams like the Cavaliers were in play; James’ hometown team that he was drafted to, spent the good parts of seven years there, left and then went back to deliver the city’s first major championship since the 1960’s. Another big one was the Heat, another team LeBron played for and won two championships with after leaving Cleveland, who also just acquired Giannis Antetokounmpo to pair with Bam Adebayo.
However, during that podcast, Paul spoke about the 76ers and James’ interest and stated: “How could he not have the attention when you have Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, Embiid?” instantly growing the case that the 76ers were serious players for James.
The hype grew even more over the following days and weeks as ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, who has covered James for the entirety of his career, stated that the 76ers, alongside the Heat and Cavaliers, were the top contenders for LeBron. After time and time again of waiting, James eventually came to a decision, selecting Philadelphia as his next home.
This is quite possibly the biggest move ever for the 76ers, acquiring arguably the greatest player in NBA history to their team, to create what many consider the best Starting 5 in the NBA heading into the 2026-27 season. James joins a group of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and, newly acquired this offseason from the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown.
If you interpret Julius Erving being sold/traded rather than the 76ers signing him, as the Nets had to give Erving to Philadelphia in exchange for money to pay the Knicks for invading their territory, then this is the biggest signing in the history of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise.
Yes, James is 41, going to be 42 years old in December, and are his MVP prime seasons a thing of the past? Absolutely. However, this isn’t just some run-of-the-mill 41-year-old; this is LeBron James, one of the greatest athletes and basketball players of all time, and still, despite being in the league for over two decades, continues to be one of the top 25 players basektball players in the world.
He is just two summers removed from helping lead Team USA to a gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics. He’s coming off a 20.9-point, 6.1-rebound, and 7.2-assist season, where he shot 51.5% from the field over 60 games. He was an All-Star for the 22nd consecutive year in a row, and would’ve made All-NBA and probably gotten MVP votes if he had played five more games and made the NBA’s 65-game-minimum threshold.
James is and will still be one of the best players in the NBA this season, and when you add him to a 76ers team that is surrounded by three other top 25 players, along with a young up-and-coming shooting guard, you greatest on paper argubly the greatest superteam of all time.
James isn’t going to have to carry the 76ers to win after win every night like he was doing in Los Angeles with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. He can rely on being one part of a dominant nucleus that scores, shoots, and creates on the floor, and when James needs nights off due to his treatment and rest, he can have them and not have to worry about the team losing.
The 76ers always seemed like the best spot for James to win championship No. 5 in what’s expected to be his last season in the league, and Mike Gansey and co. somehow managed to convince James to forgo returning to his hometown club, Cleveland, which was equally as deep as Philadelphia.
The only thing left to do is to wait for October, when the season will begin, and James puts on the No. 23 jersey and suits up for his first game as a Philadelphia 76er. The 76ers are now in a prime opportunity to bring home the franchise’s first championship since 1983.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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