LeBron James announced that he has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, making the only currently active NBA player valued at $1 billion a new addition in Philadelphia. The agreement is a veteran-minimum contract for a player with 10 or more years of service, worth roughly $8 million over two seasons, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported, citing confirmation from James’ agent Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports Group.

The deal marks a major reduction from James’ previous contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. He earned $52.6 million last season under a two-year, $104 million extension signed in 2024. By moving to Philadelphia on the minimum, James is taking a pay cut of about $48 million, or more than 90% of his prior salary.

The structure was largely shaped by NBA salary-cap rules. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and newly acquired Jaylen Brown already account for most of Philadelphia’s cap sheet, leaving the 76ers with only a minimum-salary slot to offer, even after trading for Brown from the rival Boston Celtics. For teams operating near or above the salary cap, minimum contracts are among the few mechanisms still available to add players without creating major additional cap room, which makes James’ choice unusually consequential for roster construction. James has spent his career on maximum-level contracts while moving from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat, back to Cleveland and then to the Lakers. His latest free agency was among the longest in league history, though it did not exceed his own record from 2016.

James became the NBA’s first active billionaire in 2022. His wealth has been built less from salary alone than from a broader business portfolio that includes a lifetime Nike deal, ownership interests in Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool FC, and ventures including SpringHill Company and Blaze Pizza. Forbes now estimates his net worth at about $1.4 billion.

James explained his decision in his own announcement on X: “I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.” https://x.com/kingjames/status/2080677093424394721?s=46&t=1_a0Q8eNAcAIYZmmL-xBSw

James is frequently compared with Michael Jordan in discussions of the greatest player in NBA history. Jordan won all six of his NBA Finals appearances, while James has won four championships in 10 Finals appearances, including a stretch of eight consecutive seasons in which he reached the Finals.

Late-career stars have taken below-market contracts before, including Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki in their final seasons. The distinction in James’ case is that he is doing so while holding billionaire status and remaining a star-caliber player. Rival executives have described the arrangement as functioning like a super-max discount because it allows a title contender to build a stronger roster around James without the cap impact of a maximum contract. That dynamic helped keep Philadelphia a realistic destination despite limited cap flexibility after the Brown trade. The Brown deal was itself a notable development, as Brown was only one season removed from winning an NBA Finals MVP with Philadelphia’s archrival, the Boston Celtics.

The NBA’s average player salary for 2025-26 is roughly $13.8 million. James will therefore earn well under half of the league average despite being one of the most decorated active players in the sport. A maximum contract for a player with his tenure would have started closer to $54 million this season, meaning his actual deal is roughly 7 cents on the dollar compared with what the collective bargaining agreement would otherwise have allowed him to command.

The financial context resembles a pattern Fortune has previously tracked around James: teams and cities have historically recorded significant economic gains after he signs. Fortune cited a 115% increase in the Cavaliers’ valuation during his first Cleveland stint and more than $500 million in revenue he brought to the Lakers. Philadelphia is now making a similar bet at minimum-contract prices. https://fortune.com/2026/07/16/how-valuable-lebron-james-franchises-economic-impact/

The signing also surprised prediction markets. Earlier in the week, a Miami Heat social media error shifted odds and briefly moved Miami to roughly a coin-flip favorite on Polymarket. It also helped push combined trading on James’ next team above $245 million across Kalshi and Polymarket, at one point making it the third-largest market in Kalshi’s history. In the end, none of that volume was on Philadelphia. https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/miami-heat-lebron-james-prediction-markets-mistake-social-media-post/

Shortly before James’ Friday morning announcement, Kalshi users gave Philadelphia an 8.7% chance of being his next team. The prediction market, which had volume of more than $227 million just 20 minutes after James’ tweet, showed Miami at 48.8%. After the tweet, Philadelphia jumped by more than 90 points to 99%. Miami and Golden State, the two next-closest contenders, each fell below 1%.

James’ announcement also moved other Kalshi markets. In a market on the next Eastern Conference champion, the New York Knicks, described as this year’s reigning champions, stood at 20% before the announcement, while the 76ers were at 16.7%. Afterward, Philadelphia stood at 24% and the Knicks at 19%. In another market on the 2027 NBA champion, Philadelphia’s chances increased by three points.

James ended his announcement by thanking his previous teams and regions: “Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!”

He also added a personal reflection: “The last few weeks have really been special. I’ve never been able to have no clue what to do and take real time to just think. I’ve had an incredible few months with all the people I love trying to figure it all out.”

Fortune said it used generative AI to help prepare an initial draft of the story and that an editor verified the information before publication. The story was originally featured on Fortune.com. https://fortune.com/2026/07/24/lebron-james-philadelphia-76ers-billionaire-minimum-contract/