Even despite his advanced age, the Philadelphia 76ers signed LeBron James to a two-year contract this summer, and one league insider is predicting that Philly is going to get its money’s worth down to the last dime.
Marc Stein of “The Stein Line” predicted on Tuesday, August 4 that there is a strong chance James might not just play in the upcoming campaign for the Sixers, but that he will stretch his career out through 2027-28 to render it an even quarter century (25 years) in length.
“I wrote that I expected the 2025-26 season to be LeBron’s last as a Laker (true) … and then added that the prospect of LeBron playing 25 seasons ‘is a legit possibility on the board,’” Stein wrote. “Now even James, one year later, is saying as much.”
“One suspects that James understands better than anyone, given his considerable basketball IQ, that the Sixers could well need more than one season to get such a high-usage five-some (Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid and now LeBron) functioning at peak capacity,” Stein continued. “Maybe two more seasons for LeBron, who turns 42 in December, is realistically in play now.”
76ers Landed LeBron James at Incredible Value
GettyLeBron James of the Philadelphia 76ers.
James inked a two-year contract worth $8 million in Philadelphia, which is more than a steal given his continued level of play.
James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season in L.A. in an All-Star campaign (his 22nd in 23 seasons) and led the team without Luka Doncic, and mostly absent Austin Reaves, to a first-round playoff series victory over the Houston Rockets.
That is a player worth having on the roster in any capacity. Yes, James is old. Yes, his defense is suspect. And yes, he isn’t as dominant as he once was. But the four-time NBA champion and four-time MVP was still the third-best player on the Los Angeles Lakers‘ roster in 2025-26 — at worst.
Lakers Probably Dropped Ball Letting LeBron James Walk for League-Minimum Deal
GettyLeBron James, formerly of the Los Angeles Lakers.
It is fair to argue that more so than money, the bigger issue in L.A. might have been the team’s readiness to move on from James, and all the attention he draws, as a focal point of the franchise, which now clearly belongs to Doncic with Reaves riding shotgun.
It is also more than fair to note that the Lakers could have paid James much more than most teams given his extension eligibility and their salary cap space this summer. And because of everything he did for the team over eight years, James might never have been willing to play for roughly $4 million per season over two more campaigns.
That said, he reportedly turned down approximately $20 million from the Los Angeles Clippers and $15.1 million from the Golden State Warriors (full midlevel exception) to play with a more likely winner in Philly out East.
Could the Lakers have convinced James that they have a legitimate shot to compete for a title in a top-heavy West over the next two years? Maybe, with a core of Doncic, Reaves and Walker Kessler. And could they have convinced him to stick around for two years on a league-minimum deal had the front office handled his free agency a different way? Who knows.
One thing we now know for certain is that the 76ers were the beneficiary of that fallout and may have two chances to take full advantage of it in the form of a potential NBA championship.
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