{"id":241133,"date":"2026-07-11T18:02:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/241133\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T18:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T18:02:30","slug":"philadelphia-76ers-lebron-james-deal-close-multiple-reports-suggest-sixers-leading-sweepstakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/241133\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia 76ers & LeBron James Deal Close? Multiple Reports Suggest Sixers Leading Sweepstakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several new reports suggest the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> are the new favorites to win the LeBron James<\/a> free-agent sweepstakes this month.<\/p>\n

Following a bunch of big trades, including blockbuster deals that sent\u00a0Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>\u00a0legend\u00a0Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u00a0to the Miami Heat<\/a> and Jaylen Brown<\/a> to Philly, the biggest story in the NBA offseason is wondering where the 22-time All-Star will land in the free-agent market.<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0informing the Los Angeles Lakers he won\u2019t return for a ninth season<\/a>, the top contenders for the future Hall of Famer are believed to be the Heat,\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>, Sixers, and\u00a0Golden State Warriors<\/a>. At one point, the Warriors seemed like the favorites, but now they look like the underdogs, according to recent reports.<\/p>\n

First comes an update from veteran NBA insider Marc Stein. \u201cWhat I do believe, based on actual reporting, is [the top contenders are] Cleveland, Miami, Philly<\/a>. He is looking at Eastern Conference destinations with much more seriousness\u2026 He\u2019s apparently open to going very, very far away from where he\u2019s been for the last 8 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cleveland Cavaliers no longer the favorites in the LeBron James sweepstakes?<\/p>\n

That certainly doesn\u2019t mean the 76ers are leading the chase, but it puts them near the front. While many believe the Cavaliers are the likely landing spot, ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst poured a bit of cold water on that idea yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing stuff in other cities too. I\u2019m not gonna say who, but I had somebody on the phone with me today that I consider a good source who was swearing it\u2019s a done deal in another city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Brian Windhorst<\/a><\/p>\n

LeBron James is a fan of 76ers coach and top star<\/p>\n

That report would suggest it is a two-horse race between the 76ers and Heat for LeBron James. Then ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin dropped a nugget of intelligence on Friday night that would suggest the NBA legend could be leaning toward heading to Philly this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick Nurse is a guy with a championship medal, and that is something LeBron certainly respects. Obviously, Nick Nurse is a Klutch client, and so that means there is familiarity\u2026 There is also a strong relationship between Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and LeBron James. There are few players I have seen that LeBron talks about as glowingly as a player, but as a person, as he does about Tyrese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Dave McMenamin<\/a><\/p>\n

James has good relationships with members of the Heat\u2019s leadership as well, so they can\u2019t be ruled out. But after the 76ers acquired Brown earlier this month to add him to the talented roster they already have, Philly offers an intriguing option. <\/p>\n

The draw of ending his career by helping Philadelphia get its first NBA championship since the 1980s would certainly appeal to the NBA great looking for one last big hill to climb.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"avatar\"<\/p>\n

\t\tAfter earning his journalism degree in 2017, Jason Burgos served as a contributor to several sites, including MMA Sucka … More about Jason Burgos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several new reports suggest the Philadelphia 76ers are the new favorites to win the LeBron James free-agent sweepstakes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18831,69,1002,71,70],"class_list":["post-241133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-lebron-james","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}