7/24/26
The long wait is over as the greatest player of the 21st century has made his decision. LeBron James announced on his X on Friday morning that he would be signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million per year contract. The 41-year-old broke the news himself with ESPN’s Shams Charania breaking down the details shortly after.
In his thread on X, LeBron mentioned that he seriously considered retirement at the end of this last season and thought he had played his last game. However, he decided he still had something left and despite being heavily linked to his former stomping grounds of Cleveland and Miami, as well as teaming with fellow All-Time great Steph Curry with Golden State, James decided to call it a career in Philly, not for the money but for a chance to win another title.
King James will now join his fourth different franchise after two stints in Cleveland, a strong run in Miami, and most recently his longest consecutive stretch with one team after 8 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron has won an NBA Championship with every team he has played for and will try to close out his career by bringing the Sixers their first championship since sweeping the Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals led by Moses Malone.
LeBron also broke the news that this would be his final contract, signaling the end of one of the greatest NBA careers in history. Of course the debate will always center around him and Michael Jordan, but no matter what side of that argument you are on, there is no denying how historically great both are. King James is a four-time NBA Champion, four-time Finals MVP, and four-time NBA MVP. James had made and NBA record 22-consecutive NBA All-Star Games while breaking the NBA All-Time scoring record with 43,440 career points and 8,521 playoff points.
We could go on and on with more LeBron accolades but the point is the sport has two more seasons of watching one of the very best to ever do it and Philadelphia will get the front row seats to his retirement tour.
For more on LeBron’s signing, click this link for an article by The Athletic.
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