A skeptic might look at LeBron James joining the Philadelphia 76ers on July 24 as a scheme that was planned all along.<\/p>\n
Announced on the 24th day of the month, for his 24th NBA season. A two-year, $8 million deal. One of his idols growing up, Philadelphia native Kobe Bryant, wore Nos. 8 and 24. Any numerologist would eat this stuff up.<\/p>\n
The news broke simultaneously through social media posts by James; ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania, who is close, it\u2019s no secret, to James\u2019 agent Rich Paul; and from Topps<\/a>, the sporting card company with which James has an exclusive trading card and autograph deal. Topps is owned by Fanatics, which hosted James (and others) last week in New York for a fan fest in which James repeatedly sat on stage and teased his decision.<\/p>\n In fact, during one of his appearances at Fanatics Fest, James referred to \u201ctrust the process,\u201d<\/a> the old 76ers\u2019 slogan from star center Joel Embiid\u2019s younger days.<\/p>\n Why LeBron James chose the Philadelphia 76ers<\/p>\n Joe Vardon and Jeshua Kidd<\/p>\n He knew, James knew, all along, right? It was always going to be Philadelphia? He dragged out one of the longest free agencies for a star in NBA history just because he could, stringing along the four franchises \u2014 and fan bases \u2014 who weren\u2019t going to get his talents, poking commissioner Adam Silver along the way for demanding an answer so the league could finish the 2026-27 NBA schedule on time. This has to be what happened, no?<\/p>\n Well, if it was all a conspiracy, there was one key partner left out of the loop.<\/p>\n The 76ers. They didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n For the entirety of James\u2019 free agency, which lasted 25 days, The Athletic spoke to dozens of sources across the NBA. To the business associates closest to James. To executives who run the teams angling for his services. To those teams\u2019 coaches. To team executives who were not in the running. To rival agents. One thing was clear after each conversation \u2014 no one knew what LeBron was going to do up until Friday. They might have thought they knew from time to time, but it played out as a winding mystery.<\/p>\n Within the last week, two sources close to James said, he instructed his tight circle of advisers that, when he made a decision, he would inform Paul to call the team he picked and tell them the good news. Paul informed the Sixers of his choice \u2014 James was basically going to be paid a veteran\u2019s minimum salary, regardless of where he played, so there was no negotiation to be had \u2014 late Friday morning, shortly before those simultaneous social posts went live.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wasn\u2019t worried about the theater,\u201d one of the sources close to James told The Athletic. \u201cThis was a critical decision for him, the first time he had an opportunity to ask himself these questions \u2014 Where do I want to play? Where can I win? \u2014 without money being a factor and with nothing left to prove, nothing owed to anyone. There was no plan. There is no press conference planned in Philadelphia. This was just about LeBron deciding where he would feel most comfortable and where he would win.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe for LeBron, it was about those things. For the Sixers, it means the window to win their first championship since 1983 is both wide open and with the heat of pressure blowing through it. No NBA player has won four championships with four different teams, which is what James will attempt to do in Philadelphia. With Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe on the roster, anything short of a championship will mean LeBron\u2019s storied career ends in a failed attempt to chase rings.<\/p>\n In Cleveland, it means a third time in which his hometown team has been jilted by James. Twice, he left the Cavaliers through free agency. This time, with the money teams could offer him being equal and the roster stocked with four current and former All-Stars, LeBron again told the shores of Lake Erie thanks but no thanks. Northeast Ohio, where his life and career started, where he won the title that forever cemented his legacy, will not be the place of a storybook ending.<\/p>\n In San Francisco, where the Golden State Warriors reside, there will be no splashy team-up with his former rivals Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green. The Warriors\u2019 fading dynasty will have to try to relight its lamp without James.<\/p>\n In Miami, there will be no triumphant return to South Beach for a reunion with Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo can still form one of the NBA\u2019s most fearsome frontcourts, but serious roster questions remain.<\/p>\n And in Minnesota, there is no surprise winter sunset to James\u2019 career, where he could have wowed the league playing alongside Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball, with Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels defending behind him.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how James came to the final free-agency decision he will make in his illustrious career, based on numerous conversations with those sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations inside James\u2019 team and the organizations he realistically could have picked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last few weeks have really been special,\u201d James said on social media shortly after Friday\u2019s announcement. \u201cI\u2019ve never been able to have no clue what to do and take real time to just think. I\u2019ve had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d James concluded, as he thanked Los Angeles and said he\u2019ll \u201cforever love\u201d Miami and Northeast Ohio \u201cwill always (be) home.\u201d<\/p>\n So, how did the Sixers win the latest, and last, LeBron sweepstakes?<\/p>\n According to at least three sources, everything changed in Philadelphia when first-year president of basketball operations Mike Gansey pulled off the bombshell acquisition of Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, from the Boston Celtics for Paul George and four future picks \u2014 two firsts and two seconds \u2014 on July 1, after James had already announced his decision to leave the Lakers. Before that trade, the 76ers, internally, considered themselves longshots for James. Afterward, though, they were all in.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, we\u2019ve got a pretty interesting roster,\u201d said a team source with knowledge of the franchise\u2019s pursuit of James, who was speaking after the Brown trade but before James picked Philadelphia.<\/p>\n The 76ers leaned into their advantages. Maxey has Paul as his agent, and thus had a relationship with James that preceded James\u2019 decision to leave the Lakers and finish his career elsewhere. The two players worked out together in past summers. James and Embiid were teammates on Team USA for the Paris Olympics and won gold together. Maxey and Embiid, league sources said, were dogged in their recruitment of James, calling him multiple times.<\/p>\n Why Philly will be LeBron’s hardest test<\/p>\n David Aldridge and Johnny Sweet<\/p>\n Gansey has a deep, longstanding history with James, too. Before playing Division I basketball for St. Bonaventure and West Virginia, he was a pretty fair player in high school, at Olmsted Falls, which is about 15 miles to the southwest of Cleveland and about 40 miles away from James\u2019 hometown of Akron.<\/p>\n In 2001, as a senior at Olmsted Falls, Gansey averaged 27.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.6 blocked shots per game, making all-state for the second straight season. He was runner-up that year for Ohio\u2019s coveted Mr. Basketball award, honoring the top boys\u2019 high school player in the state.<\/p>\n The winner of the award in 2001 played at St. Vincent-St. Mary\u2019s. He was a sophomore forward named LeBron James.<\/p>\n A photo taken by the Cleveland Plain Dealer of Gansey and James, Gansey\u2019s hand on James\u2019 shoulder, taken a year earlier in 2000, along with other top basketball players in the state, went viral after the Brown trade. The two never played against each other in high school, and Gansey, who was two years older, went on to his college career that didn\u2019t end until James was three years deep into his NBA career.<\/p>\n Gansey and James didn\u2019t know each other well when they were young adults, but they reunited when LeBron returned to Cleveland from the Heat. Gansey was in the Cavaliers front office, spending the first three years of James\u2019 second Cleveland stint overseeing Cleveland\u2019s minor-league affiliate in Canton. He was promoted to assistant general manager of the Cavs in 2017, before James\u2019 final season there.<\/p>\n But Gansey didn\u2019t hard-sell James on coming to Philly \u2014 he couldn\u2019t. James wasn\u2019t talking to any team executives about official business. Sixers governor Josh Harris saw James briefly at a VIP event at Fanatics Fest, and the two spoke for five to 10 minutes, a team source said, describing the encounter as \u201ccordial.\u201d Harris said James would be welcomed in Philly with open arms; James was polite but didn\u2019t tip his hand.<\/p>\n The only overtly public appeal to James from the team, of course, came from Bob Myers, president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), the parent company that oversees all of Harris\u2019 sports teams that he owns with his longtime business partner David Blitzer. Myers, who had previously been the general manager of the Warriors from 2012 to 2023 throughout their dynastic run, appeared on Paul\u2019s podcast with co-host Max Kellerman earlier in July and made his pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cIf (James) was here, I\u2019d say, \u2018I honestly believe this is your best chance to win,\u2019\u201d Myers told Paul and Kellerman.<\/p>\n Paul told The Athletic he had been trying to get Myers to come on the podcast for months; the invitation was not specifically tied to addressing James\u2019 free agency. The 76ers, team sources said, had thought about the potential downside of Myers\u2019 pitch being viewed as groveling publicly. But the upside of Myers \u2014 and his four rings from Golden State \u2014 speaking directly to Paul outweighed the potential minuses.<\/p>\n \u201cBob Myers going on Rich Paul\u2019s podcast was brilliant,\u201d a coach for one of the other teams pursuing James told The Athletic.<\/p>\n Myers\u2019 appearance with Paul happened July 8 \u2014 16 days before James made the final call. James had already spent the July 4 holiday in Akron, partying with friends and family. Among the attendees at James\u2019 parties was Cavs assistant general manager Brandon Weems, a childhood friend of James and former high school teammate. While Weems is the only executive of any team James spent real time with during his free agency, other Cavs basketball officials indicated to The Athletic they were unsure that LeBron ever really wanted to return to Cleveland.<\/p>\n