{"id":534375,"date":"2026-09-25T17:33:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=534375"},"modified":"2026-09-25T17:33:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:33:48","slug":"lebron-james-explains-his-decision-to-join-the-philadelphia-76ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/lebron-james-explains-his-decision-to-join-the-philadelphia-76ers\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James explains his decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LeBron James has explained why he chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers<\/strong>, as he prepares for an unprecedented 24th NBA season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on the Mind the Game<\/em> podcast with Steve Nash, James stressed that winning another championship is the main objective, while acknowledging that nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want a team that can compete for a championship\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cGetting a championship is not guaranteed. Obviously, there have been eight different champions eight straight seasons. But what we can control is how we show up to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

James made it clear that simply reaching the postseason is not enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAre we here to just play in the regular season? No, we’re here to win. We want a team that can compete for a championship, and I think the city of Philadelphia wants that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The 76ers have not won an NBA championship since 1983<\/strong>, and James wants to help end that drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyrese Maxey was one of the first to recruit him<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest factors in James’ decision was his relationship with Tyrese Maxey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James and Maxey share the same agent, Rich Paul, and the Philadelphia guard was reportedly among the first people to contact James with a recruiting pitch when he became a free agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI just love everything about Tyrese Maxey, man. Every day you get the same person, and that is very rare in sports and, obviously, super rare in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

James also praised what Maxey brings on the court and his character away from basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaylen Brown became another major attraction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The arrival of Jaylen Brown<\/strong> was another important factor. Philadelphia acquired the 2024 NBA champion and Finals MVP from the Boston Celtics on July 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe JB trade, too, was another piece that I don’t think anybody saw coming. I think people saw that something was going to happen there, but I don’t think anybody thought that it would be Philly that would be part of that trade package.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

James praised Brown’s approach on both ends of the floor and his individuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI love the way he approaches the game, too, on both sides of the floor, what he brings to the game, his insight on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to try to help Embiid get that first one\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The final major factor James highlighted was Joel Embiid<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sixers center has won an NBA MVP award and Olympic gold alongside James, but has yet to win an NBA championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cOne of the most important [factors], to be honest, is the big fellow. He’s done everything in our league, and the only thing he has not done is win a championship. I want to try to help him get that first one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

James will therefore begin his next chapter with Philadelphia alongside Maxey, Brown and Embiid, with another championship firmly in his sights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 76ers will open the 2026-27 regular season on October 20<\/strong> against the defending champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Philadelphia will then host the Cleveland Cavaliers on October 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 41-year-old superstar wants another championship and highlighted Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid as key factors behind his decision<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":511724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[175],"typology":[183],"posizionamento":[16775],"class_list":["post-534375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","rumors-nba-rumors","typology-rumors","posizionamento-stories"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/08\/Lebron-James-FIBA.webp","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534376,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534375\/revisions\/534376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534375"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=534375"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=534375"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=534375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}