LeBron James’s commute has drawn attention. Here’s everything we know about the Sixers star’s helicopter trips from New York.
James has said he will split time between Philadelphia and New York, and he’s not the first athlete to do so here. Wilt Chamberlain and JJ Redick also commuted from the city.
A regular sound in the background following 76ers practices has been the whirring of a helicopter, most likely there for LeBron James as he makes the return home on a commute to New York City.
James has said he will split time between Philadelphia and New York, and he’s not the first athlete to do so. Wilt Chamberlain famously did so as well when he played for the Philadelphia Warriors and the Sixers. So did JJ Redick.
» READ MORE: LeBron James could live in New York while playing in Philly. Wilt Chamberlain did it first.
As the season begins, it’s likely this ride won’t be as frequent for James, once the team starts traveling together and playing games every other day or so.
But in the meantime, James’ commute has generated plenty of media attention, from stories on TMZ and other national outlets. The New York Post even published photos of him landing at a heliport on the west side of Manhattan following the Sixers’ Blue x White scrimmage. Here are some details about it.
Where does he land and take off?
There’s a heliport at the Sixers facility in Camden, N.J., that the team has had for owners Josh Harris, who uses it to travel between his various business ventures, including other sports teams he owns like the Washington Commanders and New Jersey Devils.
In New York, James lands at a heliport on West 30th St., in the Chelsea Pier area of Manhattan. It’s a place frequently used by celebrities who come in and out of New York, and it costs around $650 each time the helicopter lands at the facility, according to a source.
How long is the commute?
Between 30-45 minutes to fly one way, which is significantly shorter than driving back to New York or taking a train.
Who owns the helicopter?
James is using a chopper owned by the company Fanatics, with whom James has had an endorsement deal since 2024. Fanatics owner Michael Rubin sold his shares of Sixers ownership in 2022. Front Office Sports reported James has access to the company’s aviation services as part of his deal.
“The deal we signed with Fanatics almost three years ago includes access to their corporate aviation,” a spokesperson for James told Front Office Sports. “It’s a feature in many of their deals with their largest athletes and we appreciate their partnership as LeBron splits his time between New York and Philadelphia.”
As the statement said, James isn’t the only person who uses Fanatics helicopters. Others also have access to it, so those charting use of the helicopter through publicly available flight tracking may not only be looking at James’ flights.
The helicopter, according to Defector, is a Leonardo AW139. The layouts for that kind of chopper include designs for anywhere from five to 10 passengers.
This isn’t a violation of league rules, right?
Everyone’s antennae are up after the Kawhi Leonard-Clippers scandal, and you can see plenty of comments on social media from fans (likely those of other teams or people who might not like James) who want to paint this arrangement in a negative light. But it’s not raising any alarm bells.
The Clippers scandal, in which the team facilitated secretive no-show agreements with team sponsors to circumvent the salary cap to funnel money to Leonard, was a major exception in the NBA, not a case of the league punishing the Clippers for something everyone else is doing.
Rubin no longer has ownership in the team and James’ agreement with Fanatics has been for multiple years, predating his time with the Sixers, and he has promoted and made appearances on behalf of the company, hardly a no-show, secretive agreement.
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