There is one line missing from the fullest CV in basketball history and LeBron James has just told the world he is spending his final two seasons chasing it. <p>The NBA's all-time leading scorer announced his "last decision" on Friday, signing a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers on the veterans' minimum of around $3.9m a season.</p><p>A considerable drop from the near $53m he earned last year.</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/basketball/news/36244/13564640/nba-europe-what-is-it-how-does-it-work-and-which-uk-teams-are-involved" target="_blank">NBA Europe: What is it, how does it work and which UK teams are involved?</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.skysports.com/basketball/news/36226/13502146/jokic-doncic-wembanyama-john-amaechi-insists-uk-can-produce-nba-superstar-in-years-to-come" target="_blank">Jokic, Doncic, Wembanyama? Amaechi insists UK can produce NBA superstar</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.sky.com/tv/sports?dcmp=Ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank">Get Sky Sports</a> or <a href="http://www.nowtv.com/membership/watch-sky-sports?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink" target="_blank">stream with no contract</a></strong></li></ul><p>The greatest player of his era – and one who is irrefutably on the sport's Mt. Rushmore as one of its greatest players – acquired at the price of a rookie.</p><widget id="9"></widget><p>Sit with that for a second.</p><p>LeBron James, four rings, 22 All-Star selections, and more points than anyone who has ever graced the league, playing on a contract costing more than $10m less than No 1 pick AJ Dybantsa will be earning with the Washington Wizards this year.</p> <widget id="11"></widget><p>Depending on how the next two seasons go, it is either the bargain of the century or the most expensive cheap contract in the sport's history.</p><p>The decision to go to Philly, though, is in keeping with LeBron's DNA and the way he has approached and attacked every challenge he has faced in his career.</p> <widget id="7"></widget><p>This is a man who had every sentimental option on the table. He could've ended with a third spell in Cleveland, a Miami reunion and even a late union with Stephen Curry et al in Golden State.</p><p>He rejected the lot. "I still truly love this game, and I have more to give," he wrote.</p><p>And everything he has left in the tank is now being aimed squarely at one target.</p><h3><strong>The final record left for one of the all-time greats</strong></h3><p>Safe to say, James is not catching Bill Russell's 11 rings with the Boston Celtics. Nobody is, in all likelihood, but that was a very different era for the sport.</p><p>James' scoring record is safe. His longevity record, 24 seasons and counting, is arguably safer still.</p><p>The only meaningful line left in the book is one nobody has ever written – and that is winning an NBA title with a fourth different franchise.</p><p>"I'm not going for money. I'm not going for family," he wrote. "I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind."</p> <widget id="8"></widget><p>Philadelphia is a franchise built for that kind of hunger. The Sixers have not won it all since 1983, the year before James was born, and have not been past the second round since 2001.</p><p>While James has won everywhere he has played. Twice in Miami in 2012 and 2013, the drought-breaker in Cleveland in 2016 and the 2020 triumph across the backdrop of the most emotional year in Los Angeles Lakers' history, won in the NBA bubble due to COVID-19 restrictions.</p><p>A ring in Philadelphia would take him to five, level with Kobe Bryant who <a href="https://www.skysports.com/nba/news/36244/11918795/kobe-bryant-killed-in-helicopter-crash-aged-41">tragically passed away in a helicopter crash</a> 10 months prior to James leading the Lakers to the title.</p><p>It would also hand him a record that stands entirely alone as his own and that is where the ultimate GOAT statement can be made by James.</p> <widget id="10"></widget><p>Michael Jordan's six titles came with one franchise built around him whilst James' claim has always rested on portability, on dragging different organisations to the summit across three decades, and on longevity and consistency which is perhaps unrivalled by any athlete in any sport.</p><p>Doing it at 42, on rookie money, in a city that has not seen a parade since the early 1980s, and the debate does not just sway – perhaps it even starts to close.</p><h3><strong>A fitting soundtrack for the "last decision"</strong></h3><p>New 76ers team president Mike Gansey had already won the NBA summer before Friday's showstopping announcement.</p><p>Trading Paul George and picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP and the league's fourth-leading scorer last season, was the shock of the offseason. Well, before this.</p><p>Add Brown, Tyrese Maxey, former MVP Joel Embiid – who called for LeBron to join Philly 12 years ago in a social media post – and the rapidly improving VJ Edgecombe around James and, on paper, Philadelphia has a case for the best starting five in basketball, with a ring-winning coach in Nick Nurse to boot.</p> <widget id="6"></widget><p>The prospect is tantalising for Philly's fanbase, not to mention general NBA fans.</p><p>Of course, the impact of locking down LeBron was immediate, too, as Fanatics sold out of No 23 jerseys within hours and the betting markets moved the Sixers straight into the title conversation.</p><p>The man himself elected to announce the move with a highlight reel soundtracked by Philadelphia's adopted sports anthem, Meek Mill's Dreams and Nightmares.</p><p>It could hardly be more appropriate, too, as there is no soft landing here.</p><p>It is a parade down Broad Street or a huge bust, with nothing in between.</p> <widget id="13"></widget><p>The East is brutal, as well, right now. The freshly-minted champion Knicks sit 100 miles up the road waiting to collect their first rings in 53 years, quite possibly with James in the building on opening night.</p><p>Meanwhile, Giannis Antetokounmpo has joined Miami, Detroit won 60 games last season and Toronto are waiting on Kawhi Leonard.</p><p>The risks inherent in this move are readily apparent, too.</p><p>James turns 42 in December and managed 60 games last season and Embiid has played in just 57 across the last two years of what's been an injury-ravaged career.</p><p>Stylistically, there are questions too. There is one ball and four players with the resume to demand it, and this franchise has already watched James Harden, Jimmy Butler and George arrive as saviours and leave without even making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, let alone the big show.</p><p>But none of them were LeBron James. Nobody is.</p> <widget id="12"></widget><p>For 23 seasons the question has always been about what he's going to do next.</p><p>He's now given his answer for the final time.</p><p>Two years, one city and the last argument he has to win.</p><p><strong>Watch the NBA live on Sky Sports this season or stream contract-free with NOW.</strong></p>
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