It finally happened. LeBron James let the basketball world free at last on Friday morning, after holding them hostage for the past month as they awaited a LeDecsion.
#He will be a Philadelphia 76er.
BREAKING: LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal with a player option, Klutch Sports Group and Klutch CEO and Game Over show host Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/ALOlTkgdAV
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 24, 2026
The significant wait was a nice reminder of how insufferable James’ affection for attention can make him. Not to mention that he tweeted out a long statement in a thread that reads as if he was really considering retiring.
Believe me, if he was going to retire, we’d all know it at least one year in advance so he could do a retirement tour -- maybe two years so he can really milk it.
LeBron wants to be the GOAT Celtics villain, clearly
More importantly, LeBron takes a key step in his clear quest to surpass Pat Riley as the greatest Boston Celtics villain of all time. It’s always been about Lucky, let's be honest.
For the near entirety of James’ soon-to-be 25-year career, he and the Celtics have consistently battled it out. Earlier on, of course, Boston’s Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen put an end to his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers and forced him to join the Miami Heat.
Miami never lost to Boston during James’ time there, and when he rejoined the Cavs in 2015, he eliminated the Cs in three of his four seasons there before becoming a Los Angeles Laker.
The Lakers need no introduction as a rival to the Celtics. They’ve faced off against Boston in big games for over 60 years now. The two franchises have a combined 35 of the league’s 80 championships. If you’re raised a Celtics fan, you’re taught that the Lakers are the absolute worst. They’ve topped every single Hate Watch Power Rankings that I’ve ever written.
His decision to go out to L.A. and help Boston’s biggest rival win another “championship” clearly had to be motivated by wanting to dive deeper into his own personal villainy, right?
LeBron and Jaylen Brown teaming up is devastating
And now, signing on with the 76ers, the Celtics’ most significant foe in the Eastern Conference is just the cherry on top. Fans are still recovering from the devastating one-two combo of blowing a 3-1 lead for the first playoff loss to Philly in 44 years, and then trading one of the greatest players in recent franchise history, Jaylen Brown, who will undoubtedly have his jersey retired one day, to them for a 36-year-old Paul George and some (probably pretty good) picks.
It was absolutely sickening to see Brown tweet in anticipation of playing alongside James on Friday. The #ThrowTheBallUp hashtag makes me want to #ThrowUp.
🤢 https://t.co/AEoIwOae2N pic.twitter.com/8Nf2keuvLe
— Sam LaFrance (@SamLaFranceNBA) July 24, 2026
Lucky lives rent-free in LeBron’s head. He hates Boston, and has publicly said so before. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reiterated that sentiment on a recent episode of The Hoop Collective podcast.
Of course he wants to go play for another rival and try and help them end a 53-year championship drought.
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