LeBron James signs with Sixers: FOX 29 Sports Team reacts

From St. Vincent's, St. Mary's, number 23, LeBron James! James! Yeah! Oh, man. That was real. Love you guys. That was real. Love you, man. All right. Oh, man. Great to talk to you. Here is the question. Are we going to hear that on the court? Ladies and gentlemen, if you're just joining us, yeah, it's not Cleveland. It's not Miami. It's Philadelphia. LeBron James has agreed to come here for two years. And so it is a very big day in Philadelphia. That's why we have to have Jason Martinez, one of the hosts of the Fantastic Sports Show, one of our evening anchors. First of all, this is pretty special, right? You know why I love this? For such a selfish reason, because it makes our job so much more fun. Because we're the center of the sports universe now. I'm getting texts from so many hating fans from other cities, L.A. My wife's mad because she's a dumb heat fan. I got buddies who are Laker fans who are like, yeah, you could have him. I'm like, yeah, we'll take him, because we're going to win it all, maybe twice. So I'm so pumped, because I want the circus. I want it. I mean, we're like the favorites to win it all now, because the impossible has happened. LeBron James is a 76er. You know, and it just is one of these things, Rob Ellis said it earlier, Jason, if the kids were in school today, if this was a school day, kids would be like getting out of school. This is how historic, I mean, I don't even want to know what Wildwood, Ocean City, all those places look like. Because it's one of these things, you will know where you were, I guess you were in your kitchen, when you heard this news. We will remember this as one of the biggest days in Philadelphia sports for the rest of time. And here's the thing, he could have hung him up. In fact, his statement was really cool. He's like, I didn't need this. I almost thought it was my last game. He wanted to come here. He wanted to play for these fans in this city. And like, yes, it helps that the roster is stacked. And without that Jalen Brown deal, there's probably not a LeBron here. There's a lot of pieces, like Mike Gansey's incredible. Like, what a way to start as an executive in Philly. But like, he wanted to come here. He wants to win. He doesn't need anything else. Here's my flight attendant wife coming home. And she's like, annoyed about this. I just love that he wanted to come here. And honey, what do you think about him not being a Miami Heat? Yeah. I honestly hope that Philadelphia fans humble him. And make him a real player and not just like showman. Yeah. You know, the frontier, we don't have Wi-Fi in the sky, but we soon will. As soon as we landed, everyone's phone were going off and buzzing and buzzing and buzzing. And people just started like looking over at each other. And I'm like, LeBron James. They're like, yeah, yeah. And then just people clapping. And you know, people are excited. I'm excited for fans. But at the same time, I hope that he does well for fans. Because Philadelphia fans do deserve a good team. Yep. So they all were clapping when they landed. That's great. We got LeBron! Now, I've been asking a lot of questions. But I feel like this is one thing I can ask you about. Which Wawa will he be sighted at first, seen first? Will he be seen at a Wawa near Camden because of the training facility? Will he be seen at a Wawa near you in Delco because Jason Kelsey lives there? Oh, yes. Or Villanova? He's going to live by Marion. I'm calling. He's going to live by one of the courses. Maybe he's going to get a house by Jalen Hurts and BG and Kelsey over there by Marion. That's what I'm predicting. OK. And you believe that he'll be a member of Marion Golf? Or he goes out to Jersey and goes to trout. Oh, yeah. OK. All right. And where will LeBron live? That's funny. And look at this. You know, Adam Sandler, when he was here filming the movie Hustlers about basketball in Philadelphia, he was a part-time member at Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwin. So there are a lot of golf courses, a lot of public, private schools for the kid to attend. It'll be interesting to see where he actually lands. He actually said, though, I didn't come here for my family. I didn't come here for anything but to win championships. So, like, I just I love that he came here because he wanted to. He came here to win. Like, that's good. That means everything to the people of Philly. When guys like Bryce Harper come here and they have a choice, they have options. LeBron could have gone anywhere and done anything, including retire. And he's only taking eight million dollars. Like, even if this doesn't work out, like, we can't blame LeBron. Like, he gave it his best shot. I just believe, like, he knows it's not all about him. And by the way, what does this mean for Joel Embiid? And, like, does he get a ring now? Like, just what would his legacy be with all of this? There's so many things on the table. But this is the best Philadelphia Sixers roster in their history. Even when they had Moses Malone, Dr. J, some of those. This is still better than that on paper. You got to get it done still. But, like, how will LeBron help the kids? How will he help Tyrese Maxey and, like, Phylon? Like, the new the new kids. Yeah, I think that's going to be great. And then the also the other thing that we that you can't discount. This helps the Eagles because the Eagles get excited to play in front of LeBron. It helps the Phillies because the Phillies get excited to play in front of LeBron. It helps the Flyers. We've seen this before when some of the teams are doing great. The other teams are doing well. These athletes want to do well for each other. They want to play in front of this town. You've mentioned it a couple times, but it bears repeating. We want to be loved in Philadelphia. And when someone wants to love us, we want to love them back. I know your wife says love comes in all shapes. He's going to get some booze when he messes stuff up. But I do think, overwhelmingly, he's going to see the best of Philadelphia. He's played here a million times. He knows these fans. He knows what this city's like. He has seen the fans at their best and maybe their worst. I mean, he's a football fan. He can see what Byrds fans are like. But I'm so glad you said that because one of my first thoughts, and I'm probably an idiot for thinking this, but like, if you're the Phillies, and the trade deadline's coming up, and LeBron's here, and the Sixers have all this attention, and the Eagles season's right around the corner, and the Phillies are just, you know, stuck in kind of being above average. If you're Dave Dombrowski, I wonder if somewhere subconsciously you're thinking, I've got to make a big trade for, like, Mike Trout, Tarek Skoobel, one of these major available players at the deadline, just to, like, keep the momentum going. And if you're a free agent of any sport, you know you want to play in this sport. It's the best sports city in America. I agree. And you know what? The other thing is, it's a big city. You know, you can play in Cleveland. And like I said, all 300 members of your high school graduating class maybe are there. But this is a big city. New York is paying attention. The Yankees are going to be here this weekend. One of the gentlemen, I forget who it was, predicted that LeBron will be at the game on Sunday night. What say you? Oh, for sure. For sure, he'll do that. I wonder how he'll make his debut in Philly. Where will he be spotted first? Yeah, I mean, that's a perfect place. It's a nationally televised game. It's Yankees and Phillies. And you know, the Sixers and Knicks are going to be major rivals for the next couple of years. It's going to be so fun. I'm so excited for just the circus of it all. And yeah, I think he's going to, I think he'll be there. So there's only one thing that I want to say. LeBron is a Cowboys fan. Is that true? Oh, yes, he is. That's a problem. Well, I swear, haven't there been other athletes? Wasn't that Bryce Harper? Yes, yes, yes. Allen Iverson too, right? I don't know if he roots for the Eagles all the time. Okay, so overall, like, do the kids get double dessert? Are you having a pizza? What are you doing in the Martinez household? Well, I got to come to work as soon as I'm done with you. So they're probably, it's pizza night. If the ice cream man comes by, they'll get that as well. Yeah, so that's what we're doing. What's that? Picas? Oh, Picas. The new Picas there in Brumal. All right, we will be watching all of your coverage. And when I do it, I'll have a margarita in my hand. So thank you, Jason Martinez and all of you guys. Later guys. Thank you. Okay, LeBron James is coming to Philadelphia. You are going to remember this day for the rest of your life. Ladies and gentlemen, he has made his decision. LeBron James is coming to Philadelphia. Not Cleveland, not Miami, right here. Wants to do it for one reason, to win. Jamie Pote is with us. Yeah, this was supposed to be a slow summer Friday for you. First of all, welcome to the show. Hey, it's exciting to be here. I'm hitting the road in a minute just to join you in the studio. So we'll start with my bedroom. I like, so what are your overall thoughts? I mean, I'm assuming you, like so many people, saw it. You looked up, you looked down. It came from a reputable source. So it's easy to believe, but still unbelievable all at the same time. I mean, the fact that it happened to us, right? Like he chose us. He could have gone anywhere. I think like I wasn't as surprised as I could have been normally because the buzz was still sort of around it. Like it never went away. You never heard Philly was out. The rumors have been out for a long time. But Philly was always one of those top contenders. And you know where there's smoke, there's fire. So that kind of felt interesting. The way I found out, actually, I was doing laundry, packing for a trip. And my brother from Los Angeles texted my husband and I the news. So I heard it from out in LA. And I thought he was joking, didn't believe it. Went on to X, and LeBron had tweeted it himself. So the source was as reputable as you can get. It was King James. You got to love that he thinks he can win here. And that gives him his best chance. He's won every single place he's been. He wants to finish his career as a Philadelphian. And that has to make us Philly sports fans feel pretty darn good about ourselves. Don't you think? He's going to do it with a team that's just unmatched. You know, you think about Jalen Brown. You know, he's got an axe to grind. Doesn't like that he was traded, obviously. Not really sure what happened in Boston. But we know that he wants to win. And then you look at the young guys, Vijay and Maxie. Maxie, in particular, obviously represented by the same team, really looks up to LeBron. The team loves Maxie. So it's going to be interesting to see their brotherly love throughout the season. I like what you did right there. No, you're right. And I do think the Jalen Brown situation was the key to this whole thing. Because if he doesn't come here, then the team's not really good enough, I don't think, to be the winner that LeBron expects it to be. So that was what started it all. And I don't think any of us could have guessed that that would have been the beginning. When we heard the Jalen Brownies, we're like, wow, that's a huge get for the Sixers. I figured it would all end there. And you mentioned Maxie. I mean, the kid is something. He's a superstar. And he's a superstar in the making. He already is a star. And you really needed to surround him with pieces. And while Joel Embiid has been here, and we all know he's not the Joel Embiid of old. And it's been sad to sort of watch his decline. The fact that LeBron is here to mentor Maxie, a guy that Maxie spent his whole career looking up to, is going to be his big brother, his father figure in the lineup. We're going to only see bigger and better things out of Maxie. And Edgecombe's dynamic. I mean, I love this kid. So what a big five we've got here in Philly. And the Sixers, in a span of a couple hours, went from a total afterthought to the talk of the town, the talk of the nation, talk of the world. I mean, this is a huge day. You have three little guys at home. You talk about you're doing laundry, doing all that. Anthony Gargano, myself. We've all been talking about how our kids are just so excited. I'm sure they've been like, mom, is this real? That was their first reaction. Is it real? They flipped out. They were so pumped. They've got LeBron Lakers jerseys. The first thought that I had is this is going to cost me another extra, what, $300, $400, $500? Three new LeBron jerseys times three. But hey, you know what? It's a small price to pay to have King James to root for in your hometown. The one who's really upset about it would be my nephew out in Los Angeles. They lose him and he comes out here. But no, for the youngsters, oh my goodness. And a chance to be able to sit here and root for him in person every night. Watch him play every night. It's like growing up. You kind of compare it to growing up and watching Michael Jordan play or Magic Johnson play or those superstars to say that you were able to see them play. And this is going to be LeBron in a Sixers uniform. It's going to be so special. It's going to bring basketball back to this town. It's a basketball town. Don't get me wrong. But the way the Sixers have been losing the past, do I have to count the years? We needed this. We needed this badly, right? Yeah. Well, it was funny. Out in the newsroom when this happened before we went on the air, we're like, who do we call? We call you. We call this. We call that. And I'm like, we need to talk to Jay Wright. Where is Phil Martelli? There's a lot of these basketball, maybe they're not NBA coaches, but Philadelphia is a big basketball town. Obviously, the Public League, Catholic League, everyone. And then our teams that play in college, St. Joe's, Villanova, Penn, all of them, Temple, the legacy of college basketball here makes us a basketball town. I would go even further down because you said I do have three boys. And while baseball is most of their primary sports, a lot of their friends are AAU basketball players. And we did dabble in that a little bit. And the AAU scene and the youth scene, basketball scene in this town, is really unmatched. It's something else. If you go drive an hour and a half or so up to Spooky Nook on a weekend, you see the cream of the crop. I mean, you've got local Philly players. And I'm talking, my little guy Brayden has a buddy in the third grade who's ranked second in the nation for the class of 2035. When I tell you the talent is already here in Philly. So something big like this happening, that's only going to boost that from the ground up. It is a basketball town. It's been a basketball town forever. I mean, you could almost argue it was a basketball town first. I realize the Eagles will always be king here. But I don't know. Like, when I first thought of moving to Philly 20 years ago, the Eagles weren't my first thought. It was Hoopstown, Sixers, and the long storied history of basketball in this city. Well, you have a job to do. You got to get out of your bedroom, make dinner for the kids, and then get down here because we need you. Oh, I'm not making dinner. That's Paul's job. He's boiling the hot dogs right now. Awesome. All right. We always like a glizzy here. Bring the glizzies. All right. Thank you, Jamie. We'll see you in a little bit.