Philadelphia 76ers Media Day in Camden, New Jersey, opened with the sport’s most familiar figure asking the obvious.

“You guys know who I am, right?” LeBron James said, tossing his ID placard onto the desk before his first press conference in a 76ers uniform.

James, entering a league-record 24th NBA season, signed a two-year, $8 million veterans’ minimum deal with Philadelphia this summer. He set the bar for what he expects from the move.

“I didn’t leave my family to lose in the second round,” James said.

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He praised new teammate Tyrese Maxey, spoke about bringing “the blueprint” to the roster and declined to touch retirement questions. “I don’t want to speak on the future right now,” he said.

Cooper Flagg’s extra inch in Dallas

At the Dallas Mavericks, the reigning Rookie of the Year arrived measurably bigger. Cooper Flagg measured 6-foot-10 without shoes at his Thursday physical, an inch above the 6-foot-9 he was listed at as a rookie.

Flagg, 19, is heading into his second NBA season alongside Kyrie Irving, who returned to the floor with no restrictions after 19 months rehabbing an ACL tear.

“He just makes it easy to play with him. He’s one of the greats in our game and he’s an incredible talent,” Flagg said of Irving.

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New team president Masai Ujiri set the internal marker for the season. “Bringing joy back to basketball in this city” was the phrase he chose, framing wins as the means rather than the goal.

Durant waves off retirement talk

In Houston, Kevin Durant handled the retirement question the way veteran superstars usually do.

“I’m not thinking about anything like that. I enjoy coming into work every day. It’s been fun going through the process with everybody. I’m taking it a day at a time,” Durant said.

The 37-year-old joined the Rockets this offseason and holds a player option for 2027-28, which means the retirement question is not going away.

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A 53-year wait ends at the Garden

At Madison Square Garden, the defending champion New York Knicks turned toward doing it again. They beat the San Antonio Spurs 4-1 in the 2026 NBA Finals for their first title since 1973.

Head coach Mike Brown and his players fielded questions about Jalen Brunson’s wrist, Karl-Anthony Towns’ extension and Deuce McBride’s contract future.

The banner-raising night is already scheduled. The Knicks host the 76ers on Tuesday, 20 October at 7pm local time on NBC, which puts LeBron James on the floor at MSG the same night New York raises its first championship banner in 53 years.

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