It’s Real: LeBron James Is a Philadelphia 76er

PHILADELPHIA — Read that headline again, because a week ago you’d have called it a rumor and a month ago you’d have laughed. LeBron James — the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA, a four-time champion, the most scrutinized athlete of his generation — is a Philadelphia 76er. He is coming here, to our building, for what he himself is calling the last act of the greatest career the sport has ever seen. If you bleed red, white, and blue in this town, today is a day you’ll remember where you were.

“My last decision”

James announced the move by framing it as the end of the road: “my last decision,” he called it, signing a two-year, $8 million contract to join the Sixers for what will be his 24th NBA season — with an option that could carry him into a 25th. Sit with that number for a second. Twenty-four seasons. There are grown adults in this region who have never been alive for a day that LeBron James wasn’t in the league. And the final chapters are going to be written on Broad Street.

There are grown adults in this region who have never been alive for a day LeBron James wasn’t in the league. The final chapters get written on Broad Street.Samuel Banks

The price says everything

Here’s the detail that tells you what this is really about: $8 million is the smallest salary LeBron James has taken in two decades. A man who has earned more than any player in the history of the game left money on the table to be here. You don’t do that for a rebuild. You don’t do that to pad stats. You do that for one reason — because you think the roster around you can win right now, and you want to be the piece that puts it over the top. That is a vote of confidence in this team that no press conference could buy.

What it means on the floor

Because make no mistake, he isn’t walking into an empty gym. He joins Tyrese Maxey, one of the most electric young guards in basketball, and Joel Embiid, a former MVP and one of the most dominant centers alive when healthy. Add the most complete basketball mind of his generation to that core — a player who still bends defenses and elevates everyone around him — and the arithmetic in the Eastern Conference changes overnight. The Sixers were a team with questions. They are now, on paper, a team with a ceiling as high as anyone’s.

Why South Jersey should care

And this is our team. The Sixers belong to Camden and Cherry Hill and Vineland as much as they belong to Center City. For years the folks down here have driven up the bridge hoping to see something historic. Now the most famous basketball player on the planet is going to do his final work forty minutes from your front door. Kids in Gloucester County are going to grow up telling their own kids they saw LeBron James play for the Sixers. That’s not hype. That’s history, and it just moved into the neighborhood.

There are questions, of course — his age, the fit, whether it’s enough to get past the East’s best. We’ll have all season to argue about them, and we will. But not today. Today the greatest scorer who ever lived chose Philadelphia for his last stand. Enjoy it. We’ve waited a long time for a summer like this one.

Based on reporting from ESPN, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Yahoo Sports, and NBC Sports. The Neighborhood Gazette covers South Jersey at neighborhoodgazette.town.