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LeBron James, after saying he seriously considered retirement, is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers for his final run at another NBA championship, he revealed Friday.
James, 41, is signing a two-year, $8 million contract with a player option, Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania. James made nearly $53 million with the Los Angeles Lakers last season.
In a series of posts on X, James addressed his decision-making, writing that he initially thought he was done playing after the 2025-26 season before taking time to decide on his future.
“I was honest at that last press conference when I stated I needed to look at myself and deicide if I still love this game,” he wrote.
After deciding “I still truly love this game, and I have more to give,” James chose the 76ers, committing to a fourth NBA team as he searches for a fifth NBA championship before retirement.
James will hope to break a 43-year championship drought for the 76ers, much the same way he erased a 52-year streak without a title for the city of Cleveland when he won a championship with the Cavaliers in 2016.
This will be James’ final free agency choice as he enters a record-breaking 24th season.
“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?” James wrote on X. “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.”
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 stated I needed to look at myself and deicide if I still love
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2026
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
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2026
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
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2026
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!
🙏🏾🫡👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2026
Paul, as James’ agent, had expressed that his client was prioritizing “basketball happiness” as the impetus to leave the Lakers. The 76ers interpreted that as a chance to win and sold their situation as such. Bob Myers, the president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Sixers, appeared as a guest on Paul’s podcast, “Game Over,” with co-host Max Kellerman to make a digital pitch.
“If he was here, I’d say, ‘I honestly believe this is your best chance to win. You have to decide all the other things that are equally important,'” Myers stated. “What I would just say is, if it’s about winning, let’s talk about this team. Because you can win here in Philadelphia.”
The Sixers came at James from all angles. President of basketball operations Mike Gansey, who was a Cavaliers executive during James’ second stint in Cleveland and competed against him when they were high school players in Northeast Ohio, stayed in constant communication with Paul behind the scenes, sources told ESPN.
Meanwhile, a trio of Sixers players — Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and the newly acquired Jaylen Brown, another surprising addition for Philadelphia this offseason — worked on James directly, sources told ESPN. That effort was led by Maxey, a fellow Klutch client who has referred to James as a “big brother” in the past.
James returns to an emergent Eastern Conference that includes two of his former teams that heavily pursued the four-time MVP: Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat.
The Sixers went 45-37 last season and lost to the eventual champion New York Knicks 4-0 in the second round of the playoffs. It has been more than four decades since the 76ers last won the title (1983), and they have only two other conference finals appearances and one NBA Finals appearance in that span.
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The furthest they have gotten with Embiid is Game 7 of the conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors in 2019, when Kawhi Leonard’s final shot bounced around the rim before ending their season.
Following James’ announcement, the 76ers moved from 20-1 to +900 to win the NBA Finals and from +750 to +370 to win the Eastern Conference at DraftKings Sportsbook. In jurisdictions that allow the market, the Sixers had opened at 30-1 to sign James, according to DraftKings odds.
Philadelphia was part of James’ early basketball journey. As a junior in high school, he traveled with St. Vincent-St. Mary to play a road game against Strawberry Mansion at the University of Pennsylvania’s storied Palestra gymnasium.
James had praised the Philadelphia fanbase after he scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Lakers to a 112-108 win in December.
“One thing you know about Philly fans — they don’t care about anybody besides their home teams, and I respect and I love that,” James stated. “I’ve played here, for obviously 23 years, a lot more when I was in the Eastern Conference. But to be able to have an appreciation for the City of Brotherly Love and for me to go out and still play the game that I love and them respect it, whatever the case may be — if they do — it’s pretty cool.”
James’ decision puts an end to a free agency frenzy of speculation about his options over the past several weeks, one fueled in part by Paul going on a media tour to discuss James’ prospects, notably drawing out a list of potential suitors on a whiteboard for an episode of his podcast.
But Paul wasn’t the only one. Sports talk radio stations put callers on air swearing they had inside information about James’ next step. Posts on X went viral for featuring surreptitious photos of James crisscrossing the country during his downtime, with each location framed on the social media platform as a supposed clue as to where he would play next.
All the hoopla muted the fallout of James’ departure from the Lakers after an eight-year run with the franchise — which included the 2020 championship and was his longest consecutive tenure with any team during his career. After James, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves fueled a 16-2 stretch from late February through the end of March last season — with James taking a supporting role at the behest of coach JJ Redick — it appeared that he could ride that out in Los Angeles until retirement.
Instead, James is taking his talents to the City of Brotherly Love.
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