CAMDEN, N.J. — LeBron James not only left the Los Angeles Lakers for the Philadelphia 76ers in the offseason, but he also left his family.
James’ son, Bronny James, is on the Lakers, and LeBron’s wife (Savannah) and daughter (Zhuri) live in Los Angeles.
The NBA icon made a major personal sacrifice to join Philadelphia.
At media day on Monday, LeBron spoke about leaving his family and how he and his new teammates will have to sacrifice a lot this season to win the championship.
“If we say that we want to do something special, there will be a collective sacrificing in a good way,” LeBron said. “Sometimes in sports, people hear sacrifice and automatically people start thinking negative about it. It’s not a negative thing. So many guys that’s been in our league over the course of my career have never made a sacrifice in their career, and they average 20 points and 22 points a game, and they’ve had one or two postseason appearances and zero postseason wins. If that’s the way you want your career to be, then that’s fine. Everyone has different goals. But I don’t think anybody downstairs or I don’t think anybody in the locker room have that feeling and want their career to be like that or we wouldn’t be here.
“We have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. That is the best way to expedite being great. You have to fall in love with doing things that are uncomfortable. And if we can do that, then we can be a great team. If we don’t do that, then we’ll be like, ‘Oh man, that was a great team on paper and we had a lot of great talent and we lost in the second round.’ 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 work needs to be done, and I’m ready to put the work in.”
LeBron, Brown, Embiid, Maxey Worked Out Before Media Day
LeBron, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey got on the court together for a workout at the 76ers training complex on Monday before their media day obligations, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Philadelphia holds its first practice on Tuesday.
“Going into this year, we just want to get as much time as possible with each other on and off the court, try to create those relationships, which we already have,” Embiid said. “And then build from there. Every single day, wins and losses, learn something and keep evolving. Obviously, everyone has the same goal, and we’ve got to find a way to accomplish it. Day by day, keep getting better.”
The 76ers will start Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, LeBron and Embiid this season. That’s one of the best starting lineups in the NBA on paper.
There will be growing pains with this group since Maxey, Brown, LeBron and Embiid are high-usage players.
That’s why the word “sacrifice” was said by almost every player at media day.
Philadelphia opens this season on the road against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The home opener is against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
