SEVENTEEN DAYS HAD passed since the start of free agency, and LeBron James still was unsure where he was going to play next season. But when James appeared on stage on the bottom floor inside the Javits Center at Fanatics Fest in New York on July 17, the approximately 5,000 people in the crowd hoping to witness his announcement didn't know that.
Just as he had done the day prior, fulfilling the engagement he agreed to back in April -- long before his latest decision became a three-week spectacle that dominated discussions in the league and served as a reminder of his staying power in the sport -- James, 41, examined his options but didn't intend to publicly lean toward any team. Because privately, he was having a hard time calculating what his next move should be.
However, as James, donning a striped baseball hat and pair of dark shades, began to describe the ideal environment he sought from his future employer, he unintentionally uttered a phrase that was immediately interpreted as a clue by the captive audience.
"I want to join a franchise that kind of shares the same motto as myself and that's practicing championship habits every day, but trusting the process more than anything," he said. "I think when you trust the process of actually getting to that point..."
As soon as the "sss" sound from "process" left his lips a second time -- the slogan associated with the Philadelphia 76ers for the past 13 years after former general manager Sam Hinkie's radical franchise reset -- the crowd reacted as if James just ripped open his jacket to reveal he was wearing a Sixers jersey underneath.
"He did not say that in any way, shape or form to drop some kind of Easter egg about the Sixers," a source close to James told ESPN. "He thought it was funny, but also it wasn't conscious, and he's been saying that kind of thing for years."