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On LeBron James and His Helicopter Commute To and From New York City
By Matt Schultz
Published:
When LeBron signed with the Sixers back in July, the rumor was he’d live in New York and commute to games by helicopter.
People got a lot of content out of that story. Lot of people made worried, Kobe parallels/comments about helicopter flights.
Non-Sixers fans used it to troll Philadelphia in general by saying LeBron didn’t even want to live there.
National talking head-types used it to speculate on whether LeBron even really wanted to be a Sixer. Etc., etc., etc.
The content was mostly bad. To me it felt like a non-story. I wrote at the time that I didn’t give a rat’s ass if he flew around in a helicopter wherever the hell he wanted, as long as he showed up for games wearing a Sixers jersey. I am on the record saying I do not care about it at all.
But now that LeBron is really here in Philly — now that I’ve seen him with my own eyes in Camden, New Jersey, at the Sixers practice facility — I’m gonna walk all that back a little. I must admit, I’ve come to find his commute situation interesting, especially after he confirmed his plan with Dave McMenamin:
And after I was in the room for Anfernee Simons’ media day availability and heard what I learned later was the sound of LeBron’s helicopter leaving Camden:
You can hear LeBron’s helicopter in the background taking off pic.twitter.com/kgZTpX5ceF
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) September 29, 2026
And after I saw the footage later on of the helicopter leaving:
With all this new context, I have to say… this is pretty sick. I love this. I’m not entirely sure why. There’s something about the insane excess of it, the preposterous, over-the-top, billionaire-brain thinking that went into the planning and execution of taking a helicopter to media day and then leaving in it. That’s a big part of it, just how dumb and unnecessary all of this is. It makes me laugh. Don’t helicopter rides cost tens of thousands of dollars? Aren’t helicopters insanely bad for the environment? Why is he doing this? I’m laughing right now typing this. What a weird guy. Such a Mr. Burns-ass thing to do. LeBron’s going full rich cartoon character. So funny.
It’s not just that, though. I’m not proud of this part, but if I’m being honest, part of me was also filled with awe and delight watching LeBron’s helicopter video. Intellectually, I understand what he’s doing is dumb as hell, but emotionally, I was still excited by seeing a helicopter containing a billionaire float up into the gray Camden sky, above the building where I was just eating free Cape Cod chips the Sixers gave to the press, and away from the depressing-looking parking lot where my Honda Civic was parked, This is the same part of my caveman brain that will sometimes watch Entourage and be struck by a genuine, unironic thought like, “Whoa… Vinnie Chase has a big house… I wish I had a big house… That’d be cool…” For a moment there, seeing the helicopter take off, I went full toddler-brain. I thought the helicopter looked awesome.
Even now, after typing all that and watching the videos a bunch and reading through the internet’s takes on LeBron’s helicopter situation, I’m still having fun thinking about the ins and outs of this commute. How often will LeBron do this helicopter flight? How long does it take him, door to door? Does he feel normal when he lands after the flight, or does he feel a little off for a while, the way I always do after I get off a plane? Does the altitude change mess with his sinuses? What about his stomach? My stomach’s always going nuts for a while after a flight — I don’t know why — does LeBron have this same problem? Does he get WiFi in the chopper? Is he scrolling on his phone the whole time, or is he looking out the window, taking in the splendor of the natural world below him and thinking, “Damn, this is sick as hell… Can’t believe I’m flying around up here… I’m one of the powerful people in the world, I bet… I’m basically a Succession guy…”?
As a reporter (I am a reporter, I am a journalist, everyone knows this) I feel I have a duty to get answers to these questions. I have a responsibility to the public. A sacred duty… For that reason, I will charter a helicopter ride from Camden to NYC and write about the experience, and I will charge the flight to Crossing Broad/Sportradar/whoever is in charge of the money at this job. I do not know who it is. I still haven’t met many of the people I work with here. But whoever they are, they will be getting this bill, and that will be a good icebreaker for us. More soon.
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