At last the day has arrived to see LeBron James donning the Philadelphia 76ers uniform. It had been a long wait, even though voluntary workouts had already begun for the Pennsylvania franchise. With Media Day approaching, he had no choice but to suit up in his new jersey and take a seat to speak with the media. “You all know who I am, right?” he teased the press before removing the name placard and kicking off the press conference.
“I haven’t left my family to fail in the second round,” LeBron declared, referring to the team’s current curse and noting that Savannah and their children had stayed in Los Angeles. Since 2001, when Allen Iverson was the star, the 76ers have not reached the conference finals. “We must be comfortable with discomfort. It’s the only way to aspire to greatness. You have to be in love with discomfort. And we have a great team to achieve it.”
It was a fairly routine first appearance as a Sixers. In it, he again highlighted his strong connection with Tyrese Maxey as the main reason for his signing, in addition to paying tribute to Philadelphia’s fans across all its sports.
He wandered a bit off-script, detailing that the decision involved five teams. Among them were the New York Knicks, whom he ruled out only because they had just won a championship. “I had envisioned playing at Madison Square Garden and ending my career there. It’s the number one arena in the world for basketball,” he asserts.
On the table, the rumor that he would live in New York for most of the season and travel daily by helicopter to train. Asked where he would reside, whether in Philly or in New York, he answered that “in both” he would have “multiple residences.”
