AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
NBA player LeBron James has played the most games, scored the most points and won MVP and a ring four times apiece. Now, just a couple months shy of turning 42, James is about to begin yet another season - this time with a surprise new team. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: A few weeks ago, he stepped out from behind a curtain and walked up to the press conference table in Philadelphia. At the mic was a little paper placard with his name printed on it - LeBron James. He picked it up, looked at it, set it aside.
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LEBRON JAMES: You guys know who I am, right?
SULLIVAN: (Laughter).
We did know, us reporters. And I'm sure you do too. According to the polling firm YouGov, LeBron James is the single most famous contemporary athlete in the U.S. This will be his 24th season in the NBA. And though some of it is starting to get old, he says he's just not done yet.
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JAMES: There's things that does come with being a professional athlete - being away from your family a lot, being away from your kids a lot, you know, sacrificing a lot of time where you could be with loved ones and things of that nature, missing a lot of things that your kids got going on. You know? But as far as the time and the work ethic and things that I put in, as far as the process net, I would never, ever be like, oh, I'm glad that's over now. That's just a part of my DNA.
SULLIVAN: This was his first appearance in this unfamiliar new jersey - royal blue with red-and-white trim, stars down the side and on the front, the letters P-H-I-L-A and, of course, the number 23.
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TYRESE MAXEY: To see him here in Camden, New Jersey, you know, at the facility with a Sixers jersey on - it's cool. It's a cool experience.
SULLIVAN: That's point guard Tyrese Maxey, who helped talk LeBron into coming to Philly. Here he'd have a chance to add something to his legacy, Maxey convinced him. And what a legacy it is already. In 2002, when LeBron was just a high school junior, the cover of Sports Illustrated declared him the chosen one. And he's totally lived up to it, says ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
DAVE MCMENAMIN: Here we are two decades later. He's the league's all-time leading scorer. He's won four championships. He's won four MVPs. And now he's attempting to have the twilight of his career result in another championship. And if he accomplished it in Philadelphia, he'd be the only player in league history to have won a championship with four different franchises.
SULLIVAN: McMenamin is a longtime NBA reporter who co-wrote a book about LeBron's time in Cleveland. There have been a lot of chapters to LeBron's career, he says. There was Cleveland Part 1. Then he took his talents to South Beach and won back-to-back titles with the Miami Heat. Next came his homecoming in Cleveland, where he won another title, then the Hollywood chapter with the Los Angeles Lakers and his fourth championship. After last season, there was all this speculation about whether he'd retire or, if not, where he'd go for one maybe last hurrah.
MCMENAMIN: I think a big part of it is, though, he's spent, since the time he was a teenager, chasing this goal of, I want to be the greatest basketball player of all time. And there is still just a little bit meat left on the bone.
SULLIVAN: When LeBron announced in July that he was coming to Philly, it surprised a lot of people, including some of his new teammates - like the 21-year-old guard VJ Edgecombe, who had just started up a little group chat for the squad.
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VJ EDGECOMBE: And then Bron came. And obviously, I don't got LeBron James' number. So I can't, say, go add Bron to our group chat. Plus, like, if I had his number, ought I randomly add LeBron to a group chat? You get what I'm saying?
SULLIVAN: Philadelphia is one of the league's most historic franchises. But the 76ers haven't won a title since 1983 or even been to the finals since 2001. For LeBron, restoring this franchise to glory as what could be his last act as an all-time great? Now, that would be a good way to end his story.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Whoa. All good (ph).
SULLIVAN: The 76ers have a crazy collection of talent now. The big four of Bron, Maxey, Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown have been named All-Stars a combined 36 times. Figuring out how to make all that talent work together is the project. On the very first day of team practice last month, LeBron was the first guy there, Edgecombe told us.
EGDECOMBE: Yeah. I was like, damn, that's LeBron. I think when he was in the locker, I'm like, oh, that's Bron over there. You know what I'm saying? I seen his locker open. He was in there before everybody, as usual.
SULLIVAN: LeBron had already played two entire NBA seasons by the time Edgecombe was born. So in the locker room that morning, the 21-year-old let himself be dazzled one last time.
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EGDECOMBE: I feel like if everyone see Bron, they'd be like, yo, that's Bron, you know, regardless. But now I ain't going to be like that no more. You know what I'm saying? I ain't gonna be like that no more. Yeah.
SULLIVAN: By the time they stepped out on the court together, Edgecombe had switched to competitor mode. During practice, there was a little hiccup on a defensive switch - a classic Day 1 mistake, he told us. The reporters were incredulous. You mean to say this 21-year-old was telling LeBron James he messed up?
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EGDECOMBE: Yeah. I did. I told him he got a switch. You know, we forgot - we messed up a switch. But that's what happens. Like I said, we get to know each other.
SULLIVAN: That is exactly how LeBron wants all this to go - set ego aside and just put in the work every day.
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JAMES: And if we can do that, then we can be a great team. If we don't do that, then we would be like, oh, man. It was a great team on paper, and we had a lot of great talent, and we lost in the second round. Like, I don't want to do that. I didn't leave my family to lose in the second round. I know that for sure. So.
SULLIVAN: The project starts Tuesday with a blockbuster opening-night game against the defending champs, the New York Knicks.
Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Philadelphia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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