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The First LeBron James Mural is Up in Philly and Thankfully it’s Not at Garage Fishtown
By Matt Schultz
Published:
The time has finally come. LeBron James has his first Philly mural:
This looks sick. This is good to see. Getting the murals started is a very exciting step in this LeBron journey.
Like every other big step up to this point, seeing a mural of LeBron finished and up in the city makes the whole thing feel even more real. He’s really a Sixer. He’s really wearing 23.
What a crazy thing.
And with his first official mural up, LeBron joins a rich recent history of Philly athletes getting paintings around town and the content we get from them, like Jalen Hurts’ multiple murals:
A new Jalen Hurts mural has been painted in South Philly at Dougherty’s Electric Warehouse, 46 E Porter Street. 🦅 pic.twitter.com/keIgzXDfwK
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) February 11, 2023
And Bryce Harper/Jesus Christ:
New mural of Bryce Harper in South Philly.
— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) October 26, 2022
Photo: @cek138 pic.twitter.com/dhINSyLvfp
And then, of course, there are the cursed athletes who’ve been featured on the wall of Garage Fishtown. You remember this story. You remember Crossing Broad’s hard-hitting journalism about this.
To refresh your memory: All the players who were painted on the wall outside of Garage on Girard and Frankford ended up playing like ass very soon after the mural was finished. The first example was Matisse Thybulle:
Shortly after this went up, the NBA pretty much figured out Matisse’s shtick of inflating his defensive value by getting in passing lanes and racking up steals. Coupled with his inability to consistently shoot the three or dribble or pass, Matisse became nearly unplayable. He was then traded to the Portland Trailblazers and has not been heard from since. It was a shocking, rapid fall from grace for a guy who, for a moment there, was pretty beloved in Philly.
Now, you may be thinking, “That’s just one player. One example isn’t enough to declare a curse.” And I’d agree with that. But then it happened with three more players:
Two weeks after this painting went up in the exact spot where the Matisse mural was, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, and Brandon Marsh went 4 for 37 in the 2024 NLDS, prompting Kinker to write this at the time:
That’s 4 for 37 total, a .108 average bolstered by Stott’s Game 2, two-run triple. That’s about it though. The Daycare didn’t do much else. Bohm was swapped out for Edmundo Sosa, then came back into the lineup. He was thrown out trying to rip off a double and made some goofy plays at third in Game 4. Marsh had a grand total of one hit and Stott went 0-7 with two walks in Games 1, 3, and 4.
Hate to say it, but the Garage Fishtown wall might be cursed. Matisse Thybulle was traded. The Daycare came up small. The next thing we should see at this intersection is a pile of rubble, after the wrecking ball does the job. We better not see Matvei Michkov on this wall, or else it’s lights out for the Flyers.
So let’s all be glad the first LeBron mural is not at Garage Fishtown. Let’s also be sure to never put one there again. Let’s also remember to be pumped that LeBron is a Sixer and bask in the fact that we get to have non-Garage paintings of him around town. Hell yeah.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com