SEVENTEEN DAYS HAD passed since the start of free agency, and LeBron James still was unsure where he was going to play next season. But when James appeared on stage on the bottom floor inside the Javits Center at Fanatics Fest in New York on July 17, the approximately 5,000 people in the crowd hoping to witness his announcement didn't know that.
Just as he had done the day prior, fulfilling the engagement he agreed to back in April -- long before his latest decision became a three-week spectacle that dominated discussions in the league and served as a reminder of his staying power in the sport -- James, 41, examined his options but didn't intend to publicly lean toward any team. Because privately, he was having a hard time calculating what his next move should be.
However, as James, donning a striped baseball hat and pair of dark shades, began to describe the ideal environment he sought from his future employer, he unintentionally uttered a phrase that was immediately interpreted as a clue by the captive audience.
"I want to join a franchise that kind of shares the same motto as myself and that's practicing championship habits every day, but trusting the process more than anything," he said. "I think when you trust the process of actually getting to that point ..."
As soon as the "sss" sound from "process" left his lips a second time -- the slogan associated with the Philadelphia 76ers for the past 13 years after former general manager Sam Hinkie's radical franchise reset -- the crowd reacted as if James just ripped open his jacket to reveal he was wearing a Sixers jersey underneath.
"He did not say that in any way, shape or form to drop some kind of Easter egg about the Sixers," a source close to James told ESPN. "He thought it was funny, but also it wasn't conscious, and he's been saying that kind of thing for years."
Indeed, more than a decade ago, when asked about those putrid Sixers teams, James used a similar line long before TTP became as much a part of the Philly vernacular as "wooder ice" and the "Iggles" and was even adopted as a nickname by the one lasting success story from that era, Joel "The Process" Embiid.
"It's all a process," James said Nov. 2, 2015, after a Cleveland Cavaliers morning shootaround at the Sixers arena. "Everyone wants instant oatmeal, but it's always a process."
Still, the moment at Fanatics Fest illustrated the frenzy surrounding the veteran's decision about where he would play a 24th season and break his own record for longevity in the league.
And, a week later, that moment proved prophetic.
ESPN spoke to sources close to James and sources within each of his finalist teams to get a sense of what it was like to stand by for those 24 days he took to make his decision that will continue to reverberate throughout the league for much longer than that.
WHAT STARTED WITH James' longtime friend and agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, having conversations with 27 teams, as he told ESPN, and then whittling them to a final five -- the 76ers, Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves -- ended with the veteran with the ball in his hands looking for the last shot to cap an already Hall of Fame career.
There were surprising suitors along the way. The Boston Celtics, James' consistent nemesis through the years, expressed interest, sources told ESPN. The LA Clippers even discussed a lucrative one-season contract north of $20 million that would allow him to stay at his Brentwood, California, home, sources said.
Just as surprising was the Celtics trading Jaylen Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, to a division rival July 6 and the Sixers suddenly grabbing James' attention.
But, as Paul shared that his client was prioritizing his "basketball happiness" above all else this time around, the alchemy of what that meant was a personal mix that only James could truly define.
For months, as James vacationed with teammates from the 2016 Cavs for an epic European championship reunion, or spent hours on the golf course hacking away as the novice in the foursome, or got together with lifelong friends in Akron, Ohio, inevitably the conversations steered toward his impending decision.
And for months, he stayed disciplined in his approach, internalizing his thoughts even when surrounded by his most trusted advisers.
"He talked, he learned, he listened and he said nothing," a source close to James told ESPN. "He didn't tell you what he was thinking. He didn't tell you what he was looking for. And I think LeBron just decided this was the time he was going to make it about what he wanted, and he was going to block out all the noise."
Meanwhile, his wife, Savannah, and two of his children -- son Bronny, 21, and daughter Zhuri, 11 -- accompanied him to New York for the sports and culture festival in mid-July while he mulled things over (Bryce, 19, was absent because of summer basketball obligations at the University of Arizona).
The conversations continued with the James family back in Los Angeles last week before James, the father and husband, got the stamp of approval to follow the whims of James, the basketball player, once again. "When you get the green light from Savannah, it means you're getting the green light from Zhuri," Paul told ESPN, "because the boys are out of the house."
It was after midnight Thursday when James was finally at peace with his decision, and he called Paul with the news.
Paul was to reach out to the 76ers the following morning to inform them that the four-time MVP, four-time champion and the league's all-time leading scorer was joining their team.
On Friday, James followed a 5:30 a.m. workout with a morning round at Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank, California, when the wheels were set in motion.
Paul messaged the sweepstakes winners, and James posted the news on social media in a shared story with Topps featuring an image of him in a white No. 23 Sixers uniform next to an autographed 1-of-1 trading card -- making history as the first athlete to monetize his or her free agency that way.
"And then he put his phone down and didn't take any calls," a source close to James said.
PAUL'S GROUP TEXT reached a contingent of 76ers stakeholders all at once, including team governor Josh Harris; co-owner David Blitzer; Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment president Bob Myers; executive vice president of basketball operations Jameer Nelson; and two-time All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey.
"Congrats," the text read. "Sixers it is."
And it also pinged a phone in Cleveland at the same time.
No, Paul hadn't mistakenly included Cavs president Koby Altman on the celebratory message when Cleveland had actually finished as a runner-up. The message went to Sixers president of basketball operations and Olmsted Falls, Ohio, native Mike Gansey, who was back with his family at his Midwest home. Gansey spent more than a decade in the Cavs' front office before he was hired to replace Daryl Morey in May.
For Gansey, who in 2001 came in second behind James for Ohio's Mr. Basketball award -- which honors the best high school player in the state -- it was hard to comprehend it was real.
He walked upstairs to tell his wife, Amy, first. "I'm like, 'Babe, we just got LeBron,'" Gansey told ESPN. "She's like, 'What?!' I'll never forget that. And just seeing Rich's texts and being like, 'Oh my gosh, here we go.'"
And then he walked out of the house to field a flood of calls.
"I walked around the block probably for two hours," Gansey said. "Some of my neighbors were coming out looking at me like, 'What the hell? You took him!'
"Being in Cleveland, obviously, a little bittersweet, I guess."
Gansey was the general manager for the Cavs' G League affiliate when James lifted the varsity club to the first professional sports title for any Cleveland team in 52 years. Now he's running the Sixers, a franchise wearing its 43-year championship drought like an anvil around its neck.
Though the outcome of the Sixers' pursuit was somewhat unbelievable for Gansey, both he and Myers believed in their pitch to James of having the best basketball situation among any of the teams he was considering.
Myers even appeared as a guest on Paul's "Game Over" video podcast with co-host Max Kellerman on July 8 to sell the vision as Philadelphia being the most championship-ready roster that James could join, even with injuries having limited Embiid to 96 games over three seasons since winning league MVP honors in 2023.
"When I went on the podcast, that's what I meant," Myers told ESPN. "You can disagree, anybody can. And you could argue Embiid -- and what I would say is sure, there's always health risks -- but I would take the chance of a healthy Embiid over you go somewhere else, other guys can get hurt, too."
As the days leading up to the decision dragged on, there were signs that the Sixers were still in the hunt even though James remained tight-lipped.
Paul inquired about the organization's stance on James possibly living out of market, much like his Los Angeles Lakers coach, JJ Redick, once did, when he played for Philly but kept his main residence in Brooklyn. The Sixers brass took notice.
And James kept open lines of communication between himself and the team's trio of stars in Embiid, Maxey and Brown, which convinced the execs that James' interest was genuine.
"I talked to Joel [after a call with James], and Joel's like, 'Hey man, I just said I'm healthy,'" Gansey told ESPN, referencing the 31-year-old center's injury history that includes knee issues, Bell's palsy and an emergency appendectomy in recent years.
"I just said to him, 'What do you think?' He's like, 'I don't know ... I don't know what he's thinking.'"
James also spent time with Harris, sources said, at Fanatics Fest inside of a pop-up version of Jay-Z's 40/40 club -- where the superstar partied with friends and family the night of the 2003 NBA draft after starting his career as the No. 1 pick. And sources told ESPN's Shams Charania that James spoke to Nick Nurse on the phone, too -- the only coach from any of the teams he was considering that he talked to.
The signs were all there.
A source familiar with James' thinking at the time told ESPN that Philly ultimately satisfied his search for basketball happiness: "This is about LeBron really thinking, 'Where do I stand the greatest chance to spend every minute of every day focused on contributing to winning a championship?'"
The storybook factor of what a title would feel like in a sports-obsessed city such as Philadelphia only enhanced the situation.
"One of the things that was compelling about the Sixers was how passionate the fanbase is and how long it's been since they've won a championship," the source said.
PICKING PHILADELPHIA AS the fourth franchise he would play for also meant James was rejecting his other options. There would be no third stint in Cleveland. No rebuilding the bridge back to South Beach to form a new big three with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. No joining forces with the other defining player of his generation, Stephen Curry, in Golden State. No being a big brother for the dynamic, young backcourt of LaMelo Ball and Anthony Edwards in Minnesota. No return to the Lakers to reteam with Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves -- and his eldest son.
Theories abound why each team couldn't close the deal, but only James truly knows. ESPN spoke to sources within each team that attempted to land him, and none of the franchise decision-makers ever truly allowed themselves to think James was on his way.
"You never know," a Miami source told ESPN. "Pat [Riley] says, 'You never know your team until it's a team.' So we try not to get caught up in that."
People close to James believed the Lakers were ready to move on from the 22-time All-Star and were never serious about re-signing him despite president of basketball operations and GM Rob Pelinka stating the contrary during an end-of-season news conference after L.A. got swept in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Multiple sources within the Sixers and close to James who spoke to ESPN since the decision were agreed on one thing: Philadelphia was a bold choice.
The storyline for the final chapter of his career would have been palatable with or without winning a fifth ring in those other places.
But Philly? To clear his own bar for success, James has to deliver a title to the Sixers the same way he did for the Cavs, Heat and Lakers in the past and become the first player in league history to win a championship with four different teams.
"He didn't take the easy way," a Sixers source told ESPN. "He's comfortable being uncomfortable. Which a lot of people aren't."
Added a source close to James: "I gained even more respect for him.
"Everybody else looks at a job as work. But when I saw that I asked myself, 'Let's say you worked for this company for 20-something years and you know that you're going to retire in a few years, would I go to Philly? Would I go somewhere that's a six-hour flight and leave everything, my family here, to go there?' It's really the pure story of dedication to his craft. It's basketball."
And it's a basketball journey unlike that of any of the all-time greats who came before him, including Michael Jordan, of whom James famously told Sports Illustrated in 2016, "My motivation is this ghost I'm chasing. The ghost played in Chicago."
James can never be 6-for-6 in the Finals like Jordan -- that was out the window after losing in his first Finals trip in 2007 -- but if he fulfills his two-year, $8 million contract with Philadelphia, he'll have played 25 years in the league. A full 10 more than Jordan, a staple of longevity that Jordan's legacy can never touch.
And who knows if it stops there.
"I think Philadelphia's going to energize him," Paul told ESPN. "Maybe we get two [seasons]. Maybe we get four."
Four seasons would take him to age 45, which would make him the second-oldest player in NBA history. But when talking about his longevity, the quadragenarian James, ancient by basketball standards, likened himself not to Nat Hickey or Kevin Willis but to the 56-year-old Jay-Z, the 76-year-old Bruce Springsteen and the octogenarians in The Rolling Stones during his Fanatics Fest appearance.
"We're giving everything that we have to the sport, and we're still driving revenue as well. Why not still play it if you still love it?" James said. "I'm just trying to squeeze as much of the juice out of it as possible."
Still on stage. Still performing. And still earning. "As long as LeBron is playing basketball, he's going to make nine figures," Paul told ESPN.
But if it was just about the money he could have stayed home and played for the Clippers.
Ultimately, his decision -- the last decision of this nature in his career -- was all about finding that feeling of fully immersing himself in a basketball environment of his choosing.
It was about making his own luck and defying the doubters who will suggest this move can only help him chase the ghost of Jordan that played in Washington, not Chicago.
This last decision was about being loyal to no one but his own basketball compass that's inside him.
"There's no loyalty in business," Paul told ESPN. "Especially for an athlete. That's like playing blackjack. You got both of your cards up, and the dealer is only showing you one of theirs. It's not like, 'I'm going to stay in here. I'm going to keep losing. I'm going to lose 20 hands in a row because I'm just loyal to you, the dealer.'
"You get a new shoe."
