The Philadelphia 76ers’ offseason already looked loud on paper. Then they added LeBron James, and suddenly every move around this team feels a little bigger.
Philadelphia first pulled off a deal for Jaylen Brown, who was unhappy in Boston. Then came the James signing, a move ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported this way: “LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers for his final run at another NBA championship, he announced Friday," ESPN's Dave McMenamin wrote. "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, though, is making a major life adjustment with this move. His family remains on the West Coast, so he won’t be seeing them as often, and he has been open about how hard that has been.
“Every day is getting better, and obviously I'm gonna have some days where some days will be better than others. But when I get to the facility, around these guys, it definitely helps," James said.
The 76ers open the season in New York on Tuesday night, and that backdrop made ESPN’s Brian Windhorst’s latest comments land even harder. Windhorst said James once wanted to be drafted by the New York Knicks.
“There was this dream, and in fact, it was kind of LeBron‘s dream too. Literally the night before he agreed to his Nike contract, in his Nike contract he got a 20 or 30% bonus if he got drafted to the Knicks.
They agreed to that the night before the Lottery. That’s why it was so important to get it done before the lottery.
And when the envelope opened and showed the Knicks at number nine, there was an audible in the room because people wanted LeBron to go to the Knicks,” Windhorst said.
That never happened. James went to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers instead, and the rest turned into a career that worked out just fine. If the Knicks had won that lottery slot, Windhorst suggested they would have done everything they could to keep him there for the long haul.
The timing adds another layer, with New York on deck and Windhorst talking about James’ old preferred landing spot on Monday. James has already said he planned to join the Knicks this summer if they didn’t win the NBA championship, which makes that New York connection feel even less surprising now.
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It made for a sharp reminder of how much the Garden can still turn into a referendum on star power, especially when James has long talked about the idea of playing and even finishing his career there. But this is also a fan base that has grown more attached to its own team after recent championship success, and the nights hostility did not stop with James, as Philadelphia center Joel Embiid also drew chants from the crowd. [Read more 🡒]