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LeBron James taking tougher, more meaningful path by choosing 76ers Respect to LeBron James.
Because Philly was the hard one.
It was the tough call.
The biggest potential for failure at the end of a brilliant career.
ADVERTISING And yet, James walked right through the door, toward one of the NBAs toughest and most knowledgeable fan bases, toward an infamous media contingent that is a little harder on the local teams than what James has dealt with in Los Angeles the past eight years.
He walked toward the hoops history of a city that has waited 43 years for another pro basketball title; toward the comparisons with the Eagles, who have won two Super Bowls in the past decade; toward Joel Embiids tortured injury history, and the ghosts of Iverson and Barkley and the Doctor.
That is not to say that James choice of the Philadelphia 76ers doesnt make sense in terms of basketball.
It isnt a perfect fit, but Philly checks a lot of boxes that should make sense to a 41-year-old entering his 24th NBA season.
Yes, James wants to win.
His camp made sure to repeat that talking point over and over Friday.
But James could have won in Cleveland alongside Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley.
He certainly could have won again in Miami, playing again for Erik Spoelstra and, now, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.
But James chose the challenge of winning in Philly, which chews up and spits out pretenders and talented players who dont fit the citys work ethic.
It is incredible that, 10 weeks after getting their doors blown off in another embarrassing playoff series loss to the New York Knicks, the 76ers have added James and Jaylen Brown and completely reset the expectations for the franchise.
Such big swings are not new in Philadelphia.
Big city, big mouths, big expectations.
Bryce Harper came to the Phillies in 2019 as a game changer for that franchise.
So, too, was the arrival of the Terrell Owens circus with the Eagles in 2004.
But this has a different texture, in large part because of the four decades the 76ers have toiled, in vain, to win it all again.
James warps the landscape around him, bends everything to his will and talents.
He has won at least one championship everywhere hes been.
One will do in Philadelphia.
To be sure, James will have help.
Tyrese Maxey and V.J.
Edgecombe are one of the leagues best young backcourts; Maxey and James are both Rich Paul clients and know each other well.
Embiid is hurt a lot, usually at the worst possible time.
But dont get it twisted: He can still hoop, as he showed in Phillys comeback first-round playoff series win over the Boston Celtics.
He also showed it in the 2024 Olympics, when he played exactly one game of consequence for the U.S.
team: the semifinal win against Nikola Jokic and Serbia, when Embiid helped James and Stephen Curry claw back from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit.
But the difference maker for Philly is the presence of Brown, acquired from Boston in a trade that will be discussed for years.
The advanced stats crowd may not think much of Brown.
James the player with four NBA titles, for three different teams, who is also the leagues all-time leading scorer, a 21-time all-NBA selection and a 22-time All-Star holds Brown in higher esteem.
Brown had to go through some tough times in Boston before he and Jayson Tatum finally delivered a championship to one of the leagues most storied franchises in 2024 when Brown was named the most valuable player of the NBA Finals.
In the rarefied air where players like James reside, that gets your attention.
Theres no question, Jaylen Brown going to the Sixers changed them from a contending team to a championship-caliber team, a person with knowledge of James thinking, granted anonymity to speak freely, said Friday afternoon.
James did indeed contemplate retirement after the Lakers were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round.
But he felt incomplete, the source said, in assessing the season.
He had been incredible in LAs first-round upset of the Houston Rockets, playing without Luka Doncic for the whole series and with Austin Reaves for just 64 total minutes in six games.
But James also saw that he had been able to be a supporting cast member in the regular season, when Doncic was healthy and at his best and Reaves became a dependable second scoring option.
James could still play.
But did he still want to do the grunt work the lifting and shooting drills, and the running and the drudgery of getting ready to play again? So he took his time to think about it.
Miami was real.
James still knew and respected the Heats relentless pursuit of championships.
Playing with Antetokounmpo and Adebayo, and again for Spoelstra, had real appeal, even if the frontcourt fit was a little clunky.
The Cavaliers, obviously, carried both an on-court path to success behind Mitchell, Mobley and James Harden, and the powerful pull of nostalgia for James to end his career where it began, less than an hour from his beloved Akron, in a third and final stint with the Cavs.
He knew the landscape of Cleveland and felt comfortable and at home there.
No one would have begrudged him taking the road most traveled.
But Philly, post-Brown, had a lot to offer.
James did not seek advice from his longtime circle of most trusted advisers on where he should go.
They didnt push it.
All the contending teams, including the long-shot Minnesota Timberwolves, were kept at a respectable distance as James made the final call Friday morning.
Everyone, more or less, found out together.
Perhaps James knew all along.
Maybe he didnt know until Friday morning.
But he is a student of the game.
Surely, he knew that the potential for both failure and success were, and are, greater in Philadelphia than any of the other teams on his list.
Surely, he knew that he is one of just four players Robert Horry, Danny Green and John Salley are the others to win championships with three different teams.
No doubt, James understands that if he pulls this off, and there is a parade down Broad Street next June, and he gets a fifth ring, which would get him on the line with Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, that his case for being the greatest player in NBA history would receive a turbo boost.
And he would be right.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
2026 The New York Times Company.