NEW YORK — If April, May or June had gone differently, LeBron James very well may have been playing for the Knicks — not against them — in Tuesday night’s 2026-27 season opener.
James acknowledged last month that he envisioned joining the Knicks and finally calling his beloved Madison Square Garden home — until they won an NBA championship without needing his help.
So as the Knicks collected their 2026 championship rings and raised a “World Champions” banner to the Garden rafters Tuesday night, James was in the building in a very different capacity, preparing to make his much-hyped Philadelphia 76ers debut.
James then made his mark on a 106-100 Sixers victory, totaling 14 points, nine rebounds and a team-high seven assists to help spoil the Knicks’ celebratory night.
Defended for much of the evening by OG Anunoby, James shot 5 of 13 from the field and played 34 minutes.
He blocked a driving Mikal Bridges with 1:32 left in the fourth quarter to preserve a six-point lead, then made a pair of free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining to ice the Sixers’ win.
James — a four-time NBA champion over previous stops with the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers — has regularly gushed about the Garden, tapping it as basketball’s best arena.
But James repeatedly passed on chances to come to New York earlier in his career, most famously in 2010, back when the Knicks were cellar-dwellers rather than perennial contenders.
As James shot free throws during Tuesday’s second quarter, a spirited chant of, “We don’t want you,” broke out within the sellout Garden crowd.
In that same quarter, James traded trash talk with a fan seated courtside.
Still, signing with the Sixers isn’t preventing James from at least partially fulfilling his New York dream. James is living part-time in New York and Philadelphia, commuting via helicopter.
James parted ways with the Los Angeles Lakers over the summer and conducted a comprehensive free agency, ultimately joining a star-powered Sixers team that had already added Jaylen Brown to an incumbent core of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
Already a billionaire, James sought championship upside over money going into his record-extending 24th NBA season, signing a two-year, $8 million deal with Philadelphia.
The contract was well below market value for an ageless 22-time All-Star who averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game last season.
The addition of James further established the Sixers — whom the Knicks swept in the second round last postseason — as new-look title contenders.
The Sixers aren’t asking James to be their primary ball-hander, a role occupied by Maxey. They don’t need him to be their leader scorer, either, in an offense headlined by Brown and Embiid. James’ days as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate are well behind him.
But head coach Nick Nurse sees James filling an important role, recently describing the four-time NBA MVP as an “offense creator” who can help set up the Sixers’ actions.
“For him, it’s more just being that team leader, slowing the pace down, also just getting everybody in the same position,” said 76ers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who won the 2020 championship with James on the Lakers.
“I think he’s still being LeBron, just doing it a different way.”
The 76ers’ vision for James came to fruition throughout Tuesday’s debut, as the veteran forward picked up two assists apiece in the first, second and third quarters.
It was a slow scoring start for James, whose first basket was a layup with 3:22 left in the first quarter.
James went into halftime with just five points on 2-of-5 shooting but delivered a few vintage moments after the break.
Less than four minutes into the third quarter, Brown stole a bad pass by Karl-Anthony Towns and found James for an alley-oop dunk.
On the Sixers’ next possession, Brown found a cutting James, who converted a driving layup.
And less than a minute later, Maxey dished it to James, who ran the floor and finished with a transition layup, giving the 76ers a 64-63 lead.
James’ three consecutive baskets fueled a 6-0 run for the Sixers, who, before then, hadn’t led since there were just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Had the Knicks fallen short of winning their first championship in 53 years back in June, James might have joined them with the idea of being the missing piece.
Instead, James is now part of the team that poses the biggest threat to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference.