James announced the move himself, taking a veteran’s minimum deal that is far below his previous Lakers salary as Philadelphia builds around Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown.
LeBron James has announced that he is joining the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-season deal worth roughly $8 million, a contract ESPN’s Shams Charania reported as the veteran’s minimum for a player with at least 10 years of service, citing confirmation from Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports Group. The move marks a steep drop from the $52.6 million James made last season with the Los Angeles Lakers under a two-year, $104 million extension signed in 2024. Philadelphia’s salary-cap position left the team able to offer little more than a minimum-salary slot after committing major money to Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and newly acquired Jaylen Brown. James said on X that he was not driven by money and still wanted to compete for another championship, framing the decision as a sacrifice to keep chasing wins late in his career. The signing is unusual because James, whom Forbes estimates is worth about $1.4 billion, became the NBA’s first sitting billionaire in 2022 and is still viewed as a star-level player. The deal amounts to a discount of more than 90% from his previous salary and well below the NBA’s roughly $13.8 million average salary for 2025-26. Rival executives described the arrangement as functioning like a super-max discount because it gives a contender access to James without the cap strain of a maximum contract. The move also ended a closely watched free-agency saga that spilled into prediction markets. Combined trading on Kalshi and Polymarket tied to James’s next team surpassed $245 million, with Miami briefly becoming a favorite after a social media mishap, before Philadelphia emerged as the destination.