{"id":822451,"date":"2026-07-25T06:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822451\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T06:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T06:44:13","slug":"nba-news-2026-lebron-james-signs-for-philadelphia-76ers-donald-trump-comments-philadelphia-teammates-react-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822451\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA news 2026 | LeBron James signs for Philadelphia 76ers, Donald Trump comments, Philadelphia teammates react on social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> made a bizarre claim of racism as the US President joined the basketball world in reacting to LeBron James\u2019<\/a> surprise decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old James confirmed the next chapter in his career by uploaded a montage video of his career on Instagram that ended with the 76ers logo, while also posting an explanation on X. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

LeBron James.\u00a0AP Photo\/MARK J. TERRILL<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was done when the season ended,\u201d he began. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t 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 decide if I still love this game. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still truly love this game, and I have more to give. <\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team, and I am so excited to energise a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.\u201d <\/p>\n

James\u2019 new teammates wasted no time taking to social media to share their excitement, Tyrese Maxey uploading a video to his Instagram alongside VJ Edgecombe, playfully poking fun at an iconic James meme.<\/p>\n

Trump was later asked to make a comparison between Michael Jordan and James.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Michael Jordan<\/a> is a guy that\u2019s a friend of mine, play golf with him,\u201d Trump said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good guy. And I think LeBron is… maybe he\u2019s a racist, but maybe he doesn\u2019t like Trump. I don\u2019t know, but I only like people that like me. So I would say Michael Jordan all the way.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

VJ Edgecombe on Instagram.\u00a0@vj.edgecombe<\/p>\n

July 24 has already been declared \u2018LeBron James Day\u2019 in the state of Pennsylvania according to governor Josh Shapiro. <\/p>\n

He had a certificate ready to be posted within minutes of James\u2019 signing being reported. <\/p>\n

The 76ers will be James\u2019 fourth club after playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ESPN reported the contract is a two-year deal worth $11.4 million.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia is currently trying to break a 43-year championship drought while James is searching for his fifth title.<\/p>\n

His first season at the 76ers will be the 24th of his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump made a bizarre claim of racism as the US President joined the basketball world in reacting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-822451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}