LeBron James averaged 20.9 points a game for the Lakers last season and said he was considering retirement strongly when the campaign concluded. (EPA Images pic)WASHINGTON: LeBron James announced on Friday he will play for the Philadelphia 76ers next season, with the 41-year-old NBA superstar hoping to transform another franchise into a championship team.James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, has won four titles in a 23-year career, most recently with the Los Angeles Lakers.But the 41-year-old superstar announced on June 30 that he would depart the Lakers as a free agent, sparking a frenzy of speculation as to his next team."I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time," James posted on X.James, the all-time NBA scoring leader, sparked the Miami Heat to NBA crowns in 2013 and 2014, brought his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers a title in 2016 and delivered a championship for the Lakers in 2020.He's looking to make the same magic happen in what Rich Paul, James's agent, tells ESPN will be a two-year deal worth US$8 million.The NBA legend was considering several clubs but will join a 76ers team that traded for forward Jaylen Brown from Boston and boasts a lineup that will also include star center Joel Embiid and guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.James averaged 20.9 points a game for the Lakers last season and said he was considering retirement strongly when the campaign concluded."I thought I was done when the season ended. 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," James posted on X."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."Paul played up the potential clubs James could join during more than three weeks of mystery about where he might sign.Would James return home to Cleveland, return to Miami, possibly join pals Stephen Curry and Draymond Green at Golden State?
Would he find another contender to boost?"This is my last decision," James, who had made three prior heavily scrutinized free agent moves in his career, posted. I'm not going for family."What am I really playing for at this point? PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The social media pitch to bring LeBron James to Philadelphia was an almost naive one from Joel Embiid.
“ @KingJames hey bro hope you’re having a good day…… Want to join us in philly?? His recruitment skills were on point and James — the four-time NBA champion and career scoring leader — will join Embiid in a startling turn of events on the Philadelphia 76ers. Ok, fine, just a short 12 years after the July 1, 2014, post.
The 76ers expect James to be worth the wait and hope he can win an NBA championship in Philadelphia much as he did in his previous three stops in Cleveland, Miami and with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 76ers are used to playing the long game. The franchise hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1983, when Julius Erving still soared and a year before James was born.
Certainly not as dominant as he was in his MVP heyday, LeBron James is still, well LeBron James and his addition should lift any team mired in the NBA mucky middle such as the Sixers into contention. Throw him into in a lineup that includes a league MVP in Embiid, All-Stars Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, and promising second-year standout VJ Edgecombe, and it’s no shock the Sixers moved up few a few pegs Friday on the betting board and into the short list of favorites for an NBA title. James is again chasing a ring and his arrival on a two-year deal for the veterans’ minimum of about $3.9 million per season shook up the Sixers and put the Eastern Conference on notice — yes, even the NBA champion Knicks — that a real championship contender might finally emerge in Philly.
The 76ers won the offseason Here they come, team of the year? The Sixers earned straight A’s on their summer school report card even before James said he would sign with team. The Sixers fired team president Daryl Morey and replaced him with longtime Cleveland executive Mike Gansey, who came out swinging for the fences in his first month on the job.
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