Governor Josh Shapiro issued a proclamation today welcoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and four-time champion Lebron James to the Philadelphia 76ers for the next two seasons.
James posted that this will be his “last decision” and that it comes after he strongly considered retirement.
“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time,” he said.
NBA.com published the following today:
James joins a 76ers team that has not won an NBA championship since 1983 and has not advanced out of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs since 2001. The 76ers should boast one of the top starting fives in the NBA with fellow All-Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and the league’s fourth-leading scorer this past season acquired in a stunning offseason deal with the Celtics.
The NBA’s oldest active player, James will turn 42 on Dec. 30. He was the first player in league history to log 23 seasons and will add at least one more to that this season. He also became the first player in the league to have a son as a teammate, with Bronny James playing alongside him with the Lakers.
Shapiro took to Facebook to celebrate the $8 million deal.
“By the power vested in me as the Governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a die-hard Sixers fan… I hereby proclaim today to be LEBRON JAMES DAY,” Shapiro said in a post. “Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, LeBron.”
No stranger to the hardwood, the governor was a basketball star at Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion Station in the early 1990s. In the 1991 championship game of the Tri-County League, he scored 16 points to lead Akiba Hebrew over Wyncote Academy, 82-63.
In April, he faced off with Kylie Kelce, the popular podcaster and media personality (and wife of former Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce), in a “PIG-style” basketball game on the roof of the Capitol building in Harrisburg.
Shapiro’s proclamation is below:
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Photo: Wikipedia