LeBron is a Sixer now, on the cheapest contract of his career
After calling it his “last decision,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer takes a veteran-minimum deal to Philadelphia for a record 24th season beside Embiid, Maxey, and Jaylen Brown.
LeBron James dunking in July 2012 — fourteen years before he called Philadelphia his ‘last decision’ in free agency.
Photo: Tim Shelby / CC BY 2.0
LeBron James announced Friday that his “last decision” in free agency is Philadelphia. The 41-year-old is signing a two-year, roughly $8 million contract with the 76ers — a veteran-minimum deal with a player option on year two — after making nearly $53 million with the Lakers last season. Agent Rich Paul confirmed the terms to ESPN. James said he had seriously considered retirement before choosing a fourth NBA franchise and a chase for a fifth title.
The roster math is why the story moved markets overnight. Philadelphia already flipped Paul George and draft capital to Boston for Jaylen Brown this summer. James now projects beside Tyrese Maxey, Brown, Joel Embiid, and second-year guard VJ Edgecombe under coach Nick Nurse. Maxey, Embiid, and Brown recruited him through the three-week wait. The Sixers have not won a championship since 1983; DraftKings shortened their title odds sharply after the announcement.
For a Board that usually leads Asia-facing sports, this is the global exception worth logging: the league’s career scoring leader just took the smallest salary of his career to finish — or extend — a record 24th season in the East. The basketball question is health and fit. The headline is already settled.