As you just seen above, James will sign a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. According to ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania and James’ agent Rich Paul, the deal will include a player option on one of those years.
James was considering a slew of other teams before deciding on the City of Brotherly Love. Return trips back to both Cleveland and Miami were on the board. As well as surprise teams such as San Antonio, Minnesota, Denver, Dallas, Boston, Golden State and even the New York Knicks (yuck).
James has since released a lengthy statement on X on his choice where he highlighted the need to still compete at the highest level. As the NBA’s all time leading scorer put it, “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.”
“I thought I was done when the season ended,” James admitted on X. “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 said I needed to look at myself and deicide if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”
James will now enter his record-extending 24th NBA season with the 76ers where he’ll team up with a trio of noteworthy teammates in Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and the newly acquired Jaylen Brown.