Sixers

Mike Gansey Told His Wife the Sixers Signed LeBron James the Same Exact Way We All Did

By Matt Schultz

Published: Jul 29th, 2026 · 2:49 PM EDT

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Every Sixers fan will always remember how they felt the moment they found out the Sixers were signing LeBron James. The euphoria, the shock, the disbelief, the thrill – each emotion battling for primary position in the mind before coalescing into one cohesive sensation of utter elation. It seemed unique to each of us, but it wasn’t really. We all felt that similar rush, and that shared reaction will unite all Sixers fans (who aren’t dipshit anti-LeBron people) for the rest of time…

And it sounds like it wasn’t just fans who had that experience. According to Dave McMenamin’s ESPN piece telling the story of the signing, the moment Mike Gansey told his wife what happened sounds eerily familiar:

Sixers president of basketball operations Mike Gansey walked upstairs to tell his wife, Amy, first. "I'm like, 'Babe, we just got LeBron,'" he told @mcten.

"She's like, 'What?!' I'll never forget that."

Inside LeBron James' decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers ⤵️…

— ESPN (@espn) July 29, 2026

“The message went to Sixers president of basketball operations and Olmsted Falls, Ohio, native Mike Gansey… He walked upstairs to tell his wife, Amy, first. ‘I’m like, “Babe, we just got LeBron.” She’s like, “What?!” I’ll never forget that.’”

Pretty remarkable to think that the President of Basketball Operations for the Sixers — the guy who actually made this deal, along with however involved Bob Myers was — tells his wife about massive, life-altering sports news the same way the rest of us do. That is the exact way I told my fiancée about LeBron. We were both working from home. It was Friday. I was on my laptop and saw LeBron’s tweets and started spazzing and screeching and muttering “Holy shit” and “Is this real” and “This can’t be real” and other similar phrases for a good thirty seconds. Then I ran downstairs and stood in the doorway of Kirsten’s office/the spare bedroom and barked that the Sixers just signed LeBron motherfucking James. She said, “Whoa! No way.” There was a pause. Then she turned her attention back to her laptop, offering a final, quieter “That’s awesome” as she moved on with her life and workday. I nodded, transmission complete, then giddily sprinted back upstairs two steps at a time to my laptop, where I smiled and smiled and refreshed Twitter over and over for an unknowable amount of time. Pretty much same thing as Gansey. 

Makes me wonder if the rest of Gansey’s experience after signing LeBron was pretty much the same as mine, too. Maybe he also spent the next 48 hours juggling group texts between college friends and high school friends and work friends and brothers and cousins, diehards and casuals alike, everyone losing their minds except for buddies who root for the Celtics and Knicks and only reached out to talk shit, until his bloodshot eyes stung and he felt overwhelmed and lightheaded and needed to stand in the yard for a few minutes to take a break.

Maybe Mike also spent the weekend fielding several calls from his dad, who regurgitated takes he heard on WIP about how maybe signing LeBron is actually bad that Mike had to gently but firmly talk his father out of. 

Maybe Mike also had ESPN on from the moment he heard the news until the following Monday, mostly in the background until Brian Windhorst was on screen, and until then had to suffer through dogshit segments with like Christine Williamson and commercials for Skyrizi and testosterone pills that somehow seemed louder than the shows themselves. 

Maybe Mike also increased his average screen time by like 7 hours a day, smiling ear to ear as LeBron reaction Reels flooded his algorithm, which he then sent to his fiancée (wife for Mike) so he could easily find them the following week as possible articles for the irreverent sports blog he writes for. 

Bet it was the exact same. Mike Gansey is one of us. His wife is one of us. LeBron has united us all…