One of the reasons LeBron James’ free agent decision took as long as it did is that he had to sell his family on the decision to move to the Philadelphia 76ers.
ESPN’s Shams Charania revealed Friday that James had to get his family together and make sure that his wife Savannah and his three children were on board with a move to Philadelphia. Ultimately, this past week was the first time he was able to sit down with everyone in Los Angeles and discuss his options.
“The last hurdle, I’m told, this week for LeBron James, was getting the family on board,” Charania said on ESPN’s “NBA Today.” “This is a complete family change for them. Over the last eight years, he’s been playing in L.A. Now he’s going to be on the East Coast. Getting them all in one vicinity was very important. He was able to spend this week in Los Angeles with his family.”
"The last hurdle … was getting [his] family on board."@ShamsCharania details LeBron's decision to be a 76er ✍️ pic.twitter.com/fRWyb98FDa
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 24, 2026
James made several public appearances in New York last week while still pondering his free agent destination. If he wanted to make sure he could sit his entire family down and make the decision with them, that would make sense. It would also explain why he was not particularly interested in hearing any more recruiting pitches as his free agency dragged on.
There had been some claims that Savannah was hopeful James would be retiring about now. She definitely might have needed some additional convincing to move to Philadelphia.
