‘Definitely championship or bust’: What Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, NBA legends and media stars said about LeBron to the Sixers
The news was surprising, and the takes were plentiful.
LeBron James suiting up for the Sixers? Now, more than three weeks after the opening of NBA free agency, that idea is a reality.
The news broke Friday morning with essentially no warning. James himself announced the signing on his X account, and a storm of takes ensued.
ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said the move makes Philadelphia a legitimate championship threat. Perkins and James played together for the 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers, who fell to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. With an existing core of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and the recently acquired Jaylen Brown, Perkins believes that adding James will put Philadelphia over the top.
“The Philadelphia 76ers, with LeBron James, can win the championship this year with this roster,” Perkins said. “The teams that he won a championship with, they had dogs … this is what [the Sixers] have.”
Hall of Famer Vince Carter was equally high on the Sixers’ latest signing, calling his presence on an already talented roster “cheating.” Like James, who is entering his 24th NBA season, Carter played well into his 40s, with a career spanning from the 1998-99 season to 2019-20. But while the No. 5 overall pick in 1998 didn’t win an NBA title in his 22-season career, James is aiming for his fifth championship and to become the first player to win one with four teams.
Not lost in the madness were the other teams in contention to sign James. Before Friday’s announcement, the Sixers were ranked No. 4 across prediction markets, trailing the Warriors, Cavaliers, and Heat in likelihood to sign James. Days ago, Miami posted the link to a livestream to formally introduce James, which it said was accidental. But many fans believed the accident was the stream being leaked early, not that James wasn’t signing in Miami.
Podcast host Dan Le Batard said he was confident in James heading back to Miami from the start.
“I’m just now beginning to get the texts that the Heat are curious how it is that the Sixers did this,” Le Batard said. “I think a whole lot of people are surprised that it happened at all, even though Philadelphia was always in the conversation … nobody thought that he would trust Joel Embiid’s health as the punctuation on his career.”
Another factor that surprised Le Batard was financial. He said sources had told him Miami’s offer to James was for double the money.
Friday morning’s news was equally as shocking to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who thought the Akron, Ohio, native would return to his home state and the Cleveland Cavaliers for his third stint.
“I thought that if he was going back East, he would go home, that he wouldn’t dangle his availability in the face of the Cleveland Cavaliers and then go somewhere else,” said Smith, a former Inquirer columnist. “For him to choose the Philadelphia 76ers, this is a shock among shockers.”
Smith’s thought process was one shared by many who assumed James desired a “storybook ending” with his last team. The 41-year-old grew up about 40 miles from Cleveland, was drafted first overall by the Cavaliers, spent 11 seasons with the team, and brought the franchise its only championship. And yet, Philadelphia prevailed.
“This speaks to Bob Myers, the architect, the former four-time championship executive for the Golden State Warriors,” Smith said.
Myers, who is president of sports at Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, led the search for the Sixers’ president of basketball operations, following the firing of former executive Daryl Morey. Myers hired former Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey at the end of May, and remains involved in what he called “high-level decision making.”
Signing James certainly qualifies.
Later Friday, Smith hosted Sixers legend Allen Iverson on his radio show. The 11-time All-Star and Hall of Famer was enthusiastic about his former team’s chances with the addition of James.
“Definitely championship or bust, man. I mean, that’s the added piece,” Iverson said. “Obviously, you put him on any team … you definitely have a chance.”
One concern Iverson had was the team’s health. Embiid has played in just 96 of 246 possible games over the past three seasons, and the team generally has struggled in his absence. Nearing age 42, James’ health is no certainty either. But Iverson believes adding James to an already potent core gives the Sixers a great chance to thrive and potentially return to the Finals for the first time since Iverson’s MVP season of 2000-01.
“He just boosts the percentage of any team having a chance to win the championship,” he said.
Iverson wasn’t the only former Sixer who Smith hosted. Charles Barkley also chimed in, but he said he was disappointed that James signed with his former team.
“I wanted him to go back to Cleveland. I mean, he has no affiliation with the 76ers,” Barkley said.
As for why James decided to sign with Philadelphia, Barkley believes it had to do with the other big Gansey/Myers move this offseason — the trade for Jaylen Brown. The former Celtic averaged 28.7 points last season and was Finals MVP in 2023-24.
“I have no idea what the Celtics [were thinking], trading a great player like Jaylen, someone they got to play against five times a year … but this move makes the Sixers the team to beat in the East,” he said.
