Леброн Жэймс Филадельфи 76-г сонгосон шалтгаан

The questions were getting louder.

LeBron James had played a half dozen games after missing the start of the season with sciatica.He was undoubtedly rusty as his offseason routine was disrupted by the nerve injury. He’d even logged a G League practice to try and accelerate a pathway back to basketball rhythm. But by the time the Los Angeles Lakers got to Philadelphia on Dec. 7, James was mostly moving with two left feet.

The last time he was on the court, in Toronto three days earlier, James’ streak of 1,297 straight games with at least 10 points had ended. And even though James had the game-winning assist, it looked like age — finally — had caught up to him.

Opposing players and coaches, rival scouts and executives all noticed. James wasn’t himself. Obviously 23 years in the NBA was going to take its toll, but James was moving more like a trolly and less like a freight train in the first two weeks of his return.

But in Philadelphia, James found his legs. He bounded comfortably in and out of jump shots. He barreled through the lane and flew above the rim. With Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves unable to score down the stretch, James scored 10 straight points in the fourth quarter, the final two — a dagger stepback, ended with James celebrating by crowning himself while the 76ers fans all stood and appreciated the show. He iced the game, embraced Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey and headed for the locker room.

He was back —and Philadelphia was witness.

“One thing you know about Philly fans, they don’t care about anybody besides their home teams, and I respect (it). I love that,” James said that night after finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists. “I’ve played here, for obviously 23 years, a lot more when I was in (the) Eastern Conference. But to be able to have an appreciation for the City of Brotherly Love and for me to go out and still play the game that I love and them respect it, whatever the case may be — if they do — it’s pretty cool.”

Months later when the season ended, the moment didn’t really register with me. When it became clear that James wouldn’t be back with the Lakers, that game didn’t cross my mind.

But now that we know where James will play his 24th season, this game feels more special. Over the last two seasons, I’ve been at every Lakers game that James has played — preseason included. I’ve listened to him talk, mostly in general terms, about what the end of his career could look like. I’ve gotten some kind of sense of what he’d want the end to look like.

I wasn’t surprised that the final chapter would occur outside of Los Angeles. The Lakers were the team he played for, but they were no longer his team. That changed the night they traded for Dončić (and didn’t tell James) and gave themselves a clear direction for the present and future.

Philadelphia, at least initially, felt like a surprise.

Like anyone talking to people close to James throughout this free agency, I knew very little. I knew the things that James and his team had previously talked about valuing. I knew which places could best offer it, and I knew that when James picked, I’d be able to pick through the pieces of evidence that revealed themselves in his final months with the Lakers.

Had the destination been Golden State — the predicted landing spot by plenty inside the Lakers’ locker room — the reasoning would’ve been easy to put together. James would be able to stay on the West Coast where he and his family had made their home the past eight years. He’d be able to play with people his age. It’s easy to imagine the amazing dinners and amazing bottles of wine, the conversations beginning with, “Remember when,” while the defining winners of a generation — James, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr — put the finishing touches on an era of NBA basketball.

Had it been Miami, the place that seemed to be gaining momentum ahead of James’ decision to sign with Philadelphia, you could easily see the sunshine and the off-day golf rounds in a place where he’d already been a champion. You could also see James reclaiming a piece of his game that the Lakers took from him when they dealt for Dončić and empowered Reaves. In Miami, with the Heat roster the way it is now, someone would need to make plays for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. And for as much as James bent his game around the Lakers guards, he knew it was a bit of acting. The ball, to James, is most comfortable in his hands.

If James had gone to Cleveland, it would be because he was grabbing full control of his story, putting the last chapter of his career in a familiar setting where he could ensure that, no matter the winning or the losing, the people there would celebrate everything he’s achieved in his profession.

Sources close to James told The Athletic on Friday, on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, that the reason he picked Philadelphia wasn’t a part of some complicated decision matrix. It was, simply, the place James thought he could go and have the best chance to win a championship.

Looking back at James’ time in Los Angeles, the winning always made things better. The worst times in Los Angeles always came with losing — the injuries, the trades that didn’t work out (or the ones that didn’t get made).

James missed three games early in March, the Lakers ripping off wins against Indiana, New York and Minnesota without him. He returned to the court as the Lakers unquestioned third option, the furthest down any offensive food chain he’d ever been. If it felt awkward, six straight wins smoothed everything out.

The Lakers finished that month 16-1. James was an efficiency monster, averaging 19.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists while making more than 55 percent of his shots from the field. He laughed at the idea that wouldn’t be able to handle the role.

“I know what I’m capable of still doing as an individual, but what’s important for this team, I’m able to adapt,” James said early in March. “And that’s the only thing that matters.”

In the end, it wasn’t the amount of shots or the amount of touches that would matter most for James. It wasn’t about being near the mansion he’s building in Los Angeles or the buddies who play for the Warriors.

It was about winning and the rush that competing at the highest levels in high-stakes environments could provide. After a very mutual breakup with the Lakers, James went looking for the place where he could feel that the most often, a place where all the physical and mental sacrifice required to still play in this league could be worth it.

James felt that rush in December in Philadelphia, the crowd on its feet watching him pick apart their 76ers one possession at a time down the stretch. James basked in the attention, the moment leading to a greatest hits of his celebrations — the crowning and the “silencer” merging after his final bucket.

For the first time last season, James felt something special. And as he gets ready to play his 24th NBA season later this year, we probably shouldn’t be surprised that he wants to get back to that place as much as possible.