Within 48 hours, after a sleepless Friday night, his mirrored tribute to James was up on the side of a Center City<\/a> building.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone said, \u2018Oh, that was so fast!\u2019\u201d irregular., whose full name is Sean Hassett, said Tuesday. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was fast enough. Actually, I think it could have been a little quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: LeBron James and nine other stars who stunned Philly simply by coming here<\/a><\/p>\n As soon as rumors began to swirl that James could potentially join the Sixers, the 37-year-old artist began to pull reference images, knowing that if it happened, he\u2019d want to make art of it. He had a gut feeling it was going to happen. <\/p>\n \u201cPhilly just felt like \u2014 why would they even say it if it wasn\u2019t going to be true?” Hassett said. \u201cI was a firm believer three weeks ago.\u201d <\/p>\n As the weeks wore on, his hope started to dim, but that changed late last week. Within two hours of James announcing his decision, Hassett had already drawn out what he wanted the piece to look like, and then spent the night cutting out each piece of mirror.<\/p>\n Hassett usually sells art at Rittenhouse Square on Saturdays, but instead spent most of this past Saturday afternoon walking around Center City to scout potential locations for the piece. He ultimately settled on a building at 8th and Market, the site of a former Burger King.<\/p>\n \u201cKing James, Burger King, I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a weird tie. I love the slogans that Burger King uses, which is what I used as my captions on my Instagram. One of them is \u2018There\u2019s a new king and it\u2019s you.\u2019 That makes perfect sense for exactly what I did. I mirrored LeBron James. Their classic slogan is \u2018Have it your way,\u2019 and I felt like that\u2019s what the Sixers chose this year, is to have it our way, and we\u2019re going to just put all the chips in and go for it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Hassett has been creating mirror art for 11 years. He started as a painter, but as he developed his skills, he yearned to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Working with mirrors became his medium. <\/p>\n \u201cThe viewer can see themselves in the art,\u201d he said. \u201cIt explains itself. It speaks for itself, truly, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Unauthorized LeBron James merch up for grabs outside Philly\u2019s stadiums and down the Shore<\/a><\/p>\n Hassett estimated that, at this point, an average project takes him six hours to finish, but the James project ended up taking closer to 10.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not his first tribute to a Philly athlete either.<\/p>\n Hassett created a mirrored Saquon Barkley<\/a> and put it up a week before Super Bowl<\/a> LIX, since he was that confident the Birds would win. His Allen Iverson mirror art<\/a>, created after the Sixers unveiled their small practice facility statue, is still up on 3rd and South Street.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: LeBron James could live in NYC while playing for Philly. He wouldn\u2019t be the first Sixer to do it.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI see [sports] as the true glue of the city,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember the Eagles parade, and I have a bit of social anxiety. I don\u2019t like large groups, but [at] that parade I was literally shoulder-to-shoulder, toe-to-toe with people, and there was nothing better than the energy there. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to get that back. We think this year was great, but I think there\u2019s just more great years to come here in Philly.\u201d<\/p>\n The King Picks Philly<\/p>\n Purchase a front page reprint of The Philadelphia Inquirer from Saturday, July 25, 2026, featuring LeBron James following the news that he was joining the 76ers. Buy it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/circle_outline_footer_light_theme.png\"\/)
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