LeBron James's latest frivolity divides the NBA

BarcelonaLeBron James will live in New York but play in Philadelphia. The new star of the Philadelphia 76ers, who will debut his 24th NBA season on Tuesday, will make a daily commute equivalent to going from Barcelona to Lleida. The forward will travel the distance by helicopter to avoid the dreaded traffic jams of the East Coast of the United States. The eccentricity has generated a flood of comments from fans. Some see it as practical, but the majority criticize the ecological footprint it will generate every day he has to go to training. Others remember the unfortunate Kobe Bryant, who died in an air accident.

James flies in a Fanatics helicopter to which he has access thanks to the agreement he has with the company, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the player. According to journalist Pablo Torre, the NBA is investigating the commercial relationship between the player and the company to see if it infringes any of the competition's ethical codes.

"The luxury that my way of playing gives me is that I can do anything, literally anything," says James, who has given up a lot of money to try to win his fifth NBA championship ring. The player will go from earning 52.6 million dollars with the Lakers (about 46.8 million euros) to receiving only 3.8 million dollars (about 3.3 million euros) with the Philadelphia 76ers. His teammates will be players like Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, or Jaylen Brown, who have the goal of fighting for the title. "I haven't left my family in Los Angeles to be eliminated in the second round of the play-offs. To be great, we have to be happy to do things that make us uncomfortable. This is the way for things to move faster. If we do them, we will be a great team. If we don't do them, it will be said that we were a great team and that we lost in the second round. I don't want to lose in the second round," explains James.

"My agent had a list of five teams I was interested in. I saw him on his podcast and I saw the whiteboard. I love him very much. He had a whiteboard with all the possible names. Furthermore, I have a really very good relationship with Tyrese Maxey. We talked a lot and I asked him many things, not only about how he sees the course of his career, how he sees the franchise here and to what extent he believes in it, but also about whether he thought I could fit here," assures the four-time NBA champion, who is 41 years old.

The NBA kicks off on Tuesday with the New York Knicks, the reigning champions, and the San Antonio Spurs as the main favorites, but the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Minnesota Timberwolves also feel they have a chance.

A competition with a Catalan accent

The Brooklyn Nets of the Catalan Jordi Fernández, who were unlucky again in the draft, continue in the midst of a rebuilding process. Michael Porter, Julius Randle and Egor Demin will form the backbone of a team that has full confidence in the coach from Badalona. "The challenge is to improve and be more competitive. We have taken steps forward in the summer, but now it is time for us to prove it on the court. Last year we were the youngest team in the NBA and this year we will once again bet on young talent. We want to compete at the highest level for many years," says the coach, who signed a multi-year renewal a few months ago.

"I remain very attentive to Catalan basketball. My dream was to be part of the Catalan national team, but due to a scheduling issue it could not be," acknowledges Fernández. The NBA also counts on professionals such as Adrià Arbués, basketball data scientist for the Boston Celtics, and Sergi Oliva, strategy and development advisor for the Atlanta Hawks.