Sixers

I Don’t Give a Rat’s Ass if LeBron James Lives in New York City and Commutes to Philly

By Matt Schultz

Published: Jul 27th, 2026 · 1:45 PM EDT

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Kinkead: this report was community noted on X, looks like a bad aggregation:

The claim misattributes the information to Brian Windhorst; Shams Charania mentioned the NYC residency and helicopter commute only as an unconfirmed possibility with no official plans announced.

But I think the story holds as we explore the topic generically.

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LeBron James is a Sixer and everyone who’s not a Sixers fan is furious. The hate and negativity and jealousy and cope is coming from all angles, and one that’s jumping out to me is the discourse around where LeBron will live. According to Brian Windhorst, LeBron is planning on residing in New York and commuting to Philly for Sixers games, possibly by helicopter, and people are trying to spin that as a negative:

LeBron James will be a resident of New York City while playing for the Sixers, per @WindhorstESPN.

LeBron is officially set to commute daily from NYC to Philadelphia, potentially via helicopter. pic.twitter.com/41EKjSYpnM

— Evan Sidery (@esidery) July 27, 2026

Why doesn't he want to live in Philadelphia?

— MisterKnight (@Knig43306Knight) July 27, 2026

Nothing says 'I’m fully committed to the city of Philadelphia' like refusing to actually step foot in Pennsylvania unless there’s a game.

— Victory (@victory_enzo) July 27, 2026

King said I want a ring in philly but that shit too booty for me too live in 😭

— STΞY (@_CBLOC_) July 27, 2026

Even LeBron doesn’t want to live in Philly and he just signed a contract to work there.

Should tell you everything you need to know.

— Final Buzzer Sports (@FinalBuzzerHQ) July 27, 2026

I don’t get this. Who cares? Are Sixers fans supposed to care if LeBron lives in Philly? Why would I care about that? Using this to dunk on Sixers fans is such a reach. LeBron is a business guy. He’s a billionaire. He’s got all kinds of businesses going. He’s in entertainment. He does podcasts. He produces TV stuff. Considering those things are also his job, it makes sense for him to live in New York. Philly is not an entertainment town or a business hub for billionaires and isn’t trying to be. We’re not owned by Saudi princes and Russian oligarchs. We’re not a city where every person you meet is trying to be an influencer and hoping to get cast on reality TV and doing desperate, unfunny man-on-the-street videos and praying every fucking day for an Instagram sponsorship deal with HelloFresh. We are much better than that. We are normal. But, again, if you’re LeBron — one of the most famous people on the planet with business interests wrapped up in that sort of stuff — needing to be closer to that world makes a lot of sense.

Also, New York is close as hell. Manhattan is 90 minutes by car. That’s shorter than going from Ocean City to Jenkintown. It’s shorter than going from New Britain to University City. People do this commute every day. It doesn’t affect their job. It doesn’t mean they don’t love Philly. Sometimes people have to commute for work/family/living reasons. Not to mention, he isn’t the first Philly athlete to do this. He’s not even the first Sixer to do it. J.J. Redick lived in Brooklyn during his entire Sixers tenure. Did you ever get the sense that he didn’t care about winning just because he didn’t live in Feasterville, or Somerton, or Grad Hos, or Overbook? No. He was a Sixer. He played well here. What else do you need?

LeBron picked the Sixers. I know that stings a lot of people out there. Sorry about that. I’m also sorry that this attempt at bumming us Sixers fans out fell pretty flat. But keep trying. Don’t let this big swing and a miss stop you. Looking forward to whatever cope you have in store for us next.