LeBron James is headed to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 41-year-old, 22-time All-Star announced Friday he will sign a two-year contract with Philadelphia for the 2026-27 season, choosing the Sixers over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Miami Heat. The deal will pay him $3.88 million next year — the league minimum, and the lowest salary of his entire NBA career. His rookie contract with Cleveland in 2003 paid $4.019 million.
James had told the Los Angeles Lakers earlier in the week that he would not return for a ninth consecutive season with the franchise. He averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds across 60 games in his final Lakers campaign.
The Sixers roster James is walking into bears little resemblance to the one that finished last season. Philadelphia swung the offseason’s biggest move on July 1, acquiring Jaylen Brown from the division-rival Boston Celtics in exchange for Paul George and four draft picks. Brown finished sixth in MVP voting this past season before reportedly falling out of favor in Boston following comments after the Celtics’ playoff elimination — at the hands of the Sixers.
That trade reshaped the Eastern Conference overnight and gave James a starting five to work with that includes former MVP Joel Embiid, five-time All-Star Brown, two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe, who finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Philadelphia also signed 6-foot-9 forward Dean Wade to a four-year, $39 million deal from Cleveland and added veteran guard Anfernee Simons in free agency.
Head coach Nick Nurse — who celebrated his birthday the same day James announced — now has a roster that on paper rivals any in the league. The film doesn’t lie about talent, and this group has it stacked end to end.
But the deal isn’t finalized yet. Philadelphia must clear salary space before signing James, as the contract would push them over the first apron, where they are already hard-capped by the Brown trade and the use of their nontaxpayer midlevel exception on Wade. The most likely move is waiving a non-guaranteed contract such as forward Dalen Terry’s.
James’s son Bronny will not be making the trip east. Agent Rich Paul told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that Bronny and his father are “not a package deal,” and there is no plan for the 21-year-old to join the 76ers. Bronny appeared in half of the Lakers’ games last season, averaging 2.9 points, and earned meaningful minutes in the first-round series against Houston. The Lakers reportedly view him as a legitimate NBA rotation player, and staying in Los Angeles may give him the opportunity to establish himself apart from the nepotism narrative that shadowed his rookie year.
The city of Philadelphia has embraced the arrival. Phillies star Bryce Harper, who signed his own massive free-agent deal with the city in 2019, called it “pretty cool” and noted that “the city is on fire about it.” The Phillies’ official account posted a welcome message. Topps announced that a commemorative trading card marking James’s move to Philadelphia has already sold more than 100,000 copies — among the best-selling Topps Now cards since the company regained its NBA license.
For James, it is a fourth franchise in a career spanning 23 seasons. Two of those stops — Cleveland and Miami — produced championships. The question now is whether Philadelphia can deliver a fifth ring, and what it means for the legacy of a player who has now taken his talents to more zip codes than any all-time great before him.
The Sixers haven’t been past the second round since 2001. That’s the kind of drought that makes a man willing to work for the league minimum.
