LeBron James is trying to win the NBA’s GOAT argument on longevity, and he’s somehow still going strong on the brink of his 42nd birthday. James isn’t the best player in the NBA anymore, but he proved last season with the Los Angeles Lakers that he can still carry a team for long stretches and look like an All-NBA player in his best moments. James hit free agency for the fourth time in his career this summer, and now he has announced his next chapter after eight years in LA.
LeBron James signs with Philadelphia 76ers on stunning 2-year deal
LeBron is going to the Sixers. For real.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
James announced he’s signing with the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2026-27 season, in a move first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania. This will be the 24th season of his career, and he’s spending it with a team no one could have seen coming a few weeks ago.
The Sixers put themselves in position to land James with their shocking Jaylen Brown trade with the Boston Celtics. James joins a lineup that includes Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe next to Brown. I posited that the Sixers were the frontrunners from James over the weekend, but this is still a true stunner. Maxey is another Klutch client, and given Rich Paul’s comments about the Cavs’ decision to trade Darius Garland, that might be meaningful here.
James is signing a two-year, $8 million deal with Philadelphia, per Charania. James put out the following statement on Twitter after agreeing to sign with Philly:
I thought I was done when the season ended. I wasn’t ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game. I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and deicide if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give. The last few weeks have really been special. I’ve never been able to have no clue what to do and take real time to just think. I’ve had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out. This is my last decision. I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship. I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time. Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!
The Cavs selected James with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft. He took Cleveland to the 2007 NBA Finals in his fourth pro season, but eventually left in free agency for the Miami Heat in 2010. James led the Heat to the NBA Finals in all four seasons with the franchise, including winning his first two championships in 2012 and 2013. James hit free agency again in 2014, and decided to return to Cleveland, which led to the greatest moment of his NBA career.
James took the Cavs to the NBA Finals in fourth straight years, facing the Golden State Warriors every time. Though he only came away with one championship, it will be go down in NBA history as one of the most impressive title runs ever. The 2016 Warriors broke the record for regular season wins by finishing 73-9. Golden State took a commanding 3-1 lead over Cleveland in the NBA Finals before Draymond Green’s Game 5 suspension swung the series. James and Kyrie Irving were incredible to close the series, with LeBron’s chasedown block sealing the improbable series comeback. It’s the only 3-1 comeback in NBA Finals history.
It’s hard to believe that James’ eight years with the Lakers were the most he spent consecutively with one team during his career. The Lakers made their big move after James’ first season with the franchise when they swung a trade for Anthony Davis in November of 2019. The covid pandemic interrupted the duo’s first season together, but when the league restarted inside the bubble, no one could beat the Lakers. James and Davis led Los Angeles to the 2020 championship by knocking off the Miami Heat, with James earning Finals MVP honors for the fourth time.
From there, LeBron’s Lakers tenure was full of false starts, from the doomed Russell Westbrook experiment to choosing Talen Horton-Tucker over Alex Caruso to eventually trading Davis for Luka Doncic. James announced he was leaving Los Angeles this summer, and that set up his move to the Sixers.
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