PHILADELPHIA — New Philadelphia 76ers forward LeBron James has chronic arthritis in his left foot, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
James, 41, is the oldest active player in the NBA. He turns 42 in December.
“James’ daily routine begins at the Sixers’ training complex around 7:45 a.m., when he is met by his longtime athletic trainer, Mike Mancias, to work on his body,” McMenamin wrote. “There is stretching, activation and modalities to check off as he embarks on an unprecedented 24th NBA season, breaking his NBA record for player longevity with every game he plays. And there is special attention paid to his left foot, which has chronic arthritis, sources told ESPN, and his lower back, which caused him to miss the first month of last season because of sciatica.”
James has been in the NBA since 2003. He played in 60 games last season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Akron native averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
LeBron: 76ers Need To Sacrifice To Win Championship
James not only left the Lakers for the 76ers, 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 legend made a giant personal sacrifice to join Philadelphia.
At 76ers media day, LeBron spoke about leaving his family and how he and his new teammates will have to sacrifice a lot this season to win it all.
“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.”
The 76ers will start Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron and Joel Embiid this season.
On paper, that looks like the best starting lineup in the NBA.
Philadelphia opens the season on the road against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks will raise their 2025-26 championship banner.
The 76ers’ home opener is against LeBron’s hometown club, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
LeBron Has A GOAT Case
LeBron is first in NBA history in points, field goals, games and minutes.
He’s the only player to rank top five all-time in points and assists, the only player to win three Finals MVPs with three teams, the only player with 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 career assists and the only player to score 50,000 points combining the regular season and playoffs.
LeBron holds career averages of 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game with the Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Lakers.
He’s a four-time MVP, four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, one-time scoring champion and one-time assists champion.
