Philly’s other pro athletes spent weeks on red carpets, at events, and on podcasts trying to pitch LeBron James on signing with the Sixers. Everyone from Bryce Harper to Cooper DeJean and Saquon Barkley tried to sell him on it.
And on Friday, James finally announced that he will continue his NBA career in Philadelphia, signing a two-year deal with the Sixers to try and win another championship.
Despite speculation that Jaylen Brown, whom the Sixers acquired earlier this month, and James might have beef, after Brown said two years ago that he didn’t believe James’ son, Bronny, was a pro, Brown was the first Sixers star to post after the announcement.
While we’re still waiting on Joel Embiid, the 2022-23 MVP spent much of 2014 on Twitter trying to lobby James to the Sixers. Twelve years later, he finally got his wish.
@KingJames hey bro hope you're having a good day…… Want to join us in philly?? Peace
The city’s other athletes are reacting, too. Barkley extended a golf invite after Sixers fans spent weeks pondering the locations of James’ golf trips.
Welcome to the city! Let me know when you tryna tee it up 🏌🏽⛳️ @KingJames
But some former NBA players were less enthused about James’ fourth decision, including Gilbert Arenas.
“This don’t look right, I’m sorry. Who is this?” Arenas said. “… Philly? What? I know Savannah didn’t approve this. Nobody approved him going to Philly.”
Dwight Howard posted encouraging the Sixers to complete the team with Ben Simmons, who said he plans to return to the NBA this year. Many fans responded with a famous old Colin Cowherd meme.
Mike Harkins collects old ticket stubs. Harkins estimates he has over 500 physical tickets from events he’s attended in the past, kept in journals, scrapbooks, and in storage.
One of his favorites as a kid was from the 1996 All-Star Game, held at Veterans Stadium. Harkins, who was 11 years old and grew up in South Jersey, attended both the game and the Home Run Derby with his father. It was one of his most special childhood memories, and every time he looks at that stub, it takes him back to that moment.
The physical tickets from the 1996 MLB All-Star Game were already keepsake items. They even handed out plastic ticket holders at the game.Matt Mullin / Staff
So, for the 2026 All-Star Game, Harkins decided to print out a physical ticket stub for himself, to remember the moment. He then printed out 250 more, to hand out to fans at the ballpark hoping for that same experience.
“I had the thought, that kids that are going to this game, like when I was 11 in 1996, they’re not going to have that souvenir ticket to bring home,” Harkins said. “Truthfully, kids didn’t really seem that excited about them, but all of their parents were gung-ho when I handed them the ticket stubs.”
Everyone received the same section, row, and seat number, each of which carried a special meaning. Harkins picked Section 126 because “Chase Utley is No. 1 in my book.” The row (20) and seat (08) numbers combine to make 2008, honoring the Phillies’ 2008 World Series title, the first Philly championship Harkins experienced.
On the back of each ticket, he included a message:
“I hope the newer generations of baseball fans can appreciate having a physical memento to remember this night with,” he wrote. “Maybe, thirty years from now, you’ll still have this ticket. I hope you look back on this night as fondly as that 11-year-old from 1996 still does.”
He got the idea after attending a concert in Mexico last month. Harkins met a couple from Denver, who printed out individual tickets of their own to celebrate their trip, and gave him one. As an avid ticket stub collector, he immediately started brainstorming.
Over the last decade-and-a-half, sports teams, concerts, and events have largely turned away from issuing physical tickets, instead relying on mobile tickets and QR codes. The Phillies started the process of turning their season ticket holders toward digital tickets in 2014, eliminating physical tickets entirely in 2020 during the pandemic. Mobile tickets can be more convenient, but don’t make for the same kind of keepsake.
“I’ll see an Eagles game from 2008, where it was blistery, and I can just remember being freezing cold that night against the Carolina Panthers on a Monday,” Harkins said. “It makes me think of the people that I was able to share that experience with and sometimes the result, sometimes good, sometimes bad.”
One of those people at Tuesday’s All-Star Game was Cheryl Spielvogel, the longtime peanut vendor whose call of “Peeeeeanuts!” is a familiar refrain for Citizens Bank Park regulars. Harkins happily told Spielvogel, who has been slinging the ballpark snack for over 50 years, that she helped provide “the soundtrack to my childhood.”
A look at some of the tickets in Harkins’ collection, including Michael Jordan’s last game (left), the 1976 NLCS, kept in his phone case (center), and Phillies tickets from their 10,00th loss and their playoff clinching win in 2007 (right).Courtesy of Mike Harkins
Harkins, who was a member of the famed Wolf Pack (in honor of former Phillies pitcher Randy Wolf) a quarter century ago, said the best ticket in his collection is from the Phillies’ regular season finale in 2007, when they clinched a playoff berth with some help from the Mets. He and his friends listened from the parking lot as Tom Glavine gave up seven runs in the first inning for New York against the Marlins, and were “floating” the rest of the day at Citizens Bank Park.
He even got to meet Dontrelle Willis, who started that game for the Marlins and now works for Fox Sports, at the All-Star red carpet at Independence Mall, and hear the story of that game from his side. Later, at the ballpark, Harkins got to meet the fan known as Marlins Man, a regular behind home plate at big-ticket events around the country. Laurence Leavy, the lawyer behind the orange Miami Marlins jersey, was confused when Harkins first handed him the stub, but was thankful once he realized what he had received.
Harkins considers himself a baseball history fanatic, and said the people who loved physical tickets the most were the ushers at the Bank, many of whom share that same passion for Phillies history.
He hopes the All-Star weekend and the ticket can help spark that in someone else.
When 10-year-old Ryan MacLuckie found out he’d been picked to be part of the tribute to the 1993 film The Sandlot at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, he had one thought.
“‘I hope I get to be Benny,’” his father, also named Ryan MacLuckie, recalled. “When they gave him his wardrobe the first day we were filming, he got the Tug McGraw jersey, and it was open, and he had his hat on, and he said he felt just like Benny.”
The 11 kids at the center of one of the All-Star Game’s most touching and striking moments were all local baseball and softball players that the league found through the Phillies’ RBI baseball and softball leagues.
They rode their bikes onto the field, and spent about three minutes each with a big leaguer, as fireworks fired off in the background, reminiscent of the famous 4th of July scene in The Sandlot.
Driving down the Shore every summer, the younger MacLuckie would always point out Millville — “That’s where Mike Trout lives!” — so getting to talk to the local baseball hero was a dream come true. He brought his Little League bat for Trout to sign, but nearly forgot to take his marker onto the field. Leading up to the tribute, his father ran around the stadium in hopes of getting the marker in his hands.
“[Trout] was super nice,” MacLuckie said. “I asked him for help with my batting stance. He told me to move my feet more out, so I could hit.”
“He’s smiling so big right now, he can barely talk,” MacLuckie’s father said.
He’s not the only one who received advice from a big leaguer. Eleven-year-old Damien Davis plays catcher, and he got to talk to Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski about how he grips his pitches and generates his power.
Thirteen-year-old Joseph Lund from Port Richmond was lucky enough to get paired with a Phillies player, Brandon Marsh, who said after Tuesday’s game that he “couldn’t stop crying” during the tribute.
“We were talking about how that’s his favorite movie, and how Ray Charles always makes him emotional in that song, and then I was telling him about how my grandmother is a really big fan of his, and I got to take a video of me and him saying hi,” Lund said. “I asked him to sign my cap, and he said ‘Dude, you don’t need to ask. Anything you want, I got you.’”
It was an emotional moment for Brandon Marsh when "America the Beautiful" started playing and those kids rode their bikes onto the field during the All-Star Game.
He loved "The Sandlot" growing up in Georgia, so it was "a once-in-a-lifetime experience." pic.twitter.com/A4yY6OBpo0
Charlie Fontanez was the rare kid on the field who had actually never seen The Sandlot until recently. When his baseball coach called to ask if the 14-year-old would have interest in appearing in an All-Star commercial tribute to the movie, he finally sat down to watch.
Predictably, he loved it, especially the famous 4th of July scene recreated for the spot.
The kids who took part in the All-Star Game’s tribute to The Sandlot with the Phillie Phanatic. All of the kids were selected from local baseball and softball teams affiliated with the Phillies organization.Courtesy of Sandra Fontanez
Fontanez was at the pitcher’s mound with Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The two of them took a selfie, and then talked about pitching. Yamamoto admitted he’d been “a little nervous” in the World Series.
“[Charlie] was super excited,” his aunt, Sandra Fontanez, said. “He was talking about it for hours after. Literally, we probably went to bed at two in the morning because he was just telling me how everything went.”
Noah Postell, a 14-year-old from West Philly, paired up with Freddie Freeman, who asked if he wanted to have a catch. Postell, who is a middle infielder and hopes to play at Cardinal O’Hara next year, said his only regret was that he didn’t keep the ball they were throwing around as a souvenir.
“That’s where the parent in me comes in, like I wish I was able to tell my son what to do, you know?” Postell’s father, Gregory, joked. “The ball that he was playing catch with, I wish he would have kept that ball and had Freddie sign that ball. … Maybe one day we can connect with Freddie Freeman and get a ball, but it was just an amazing opportunity.”
Freddie Freeman having a catch with a young fan under the fireworks at the All-Star game.
Sophia Wright, a 13-year-old softball player from Roxborough, got paired with Bryce Harper. She was so immersed in the experience and starstruck by Harper that the marker she’d stashed in her pocket also went unused.
“There’s tons of pictures out there, at least,” Wright said.
Fontanez said that the commercial director told her the league initially thought to hire actors for the spot, to make it an easy shoot. But the director insisted on finding players from the area, which made the moment truly magical.
“They’re baseball players,” Fontanez said. “Who better than them to be able to play a role like this?”
The All-Star Game itself? Pretty boring, even by its own standards. The American League strung together three runs off Cristopher Sánchez in the first inning, and the only other run of the game was Miguel Vargas’ home run in the eighth.
The National League got just three hits, none from a Phillies player. But for the fans in the building, the pageantry of the day made it well worth the trip.
“It was super impressive,” said Stefanie Lollis, a Phillies fan who flew up from Lake Mary, Fla., with her husband for the game. “A lot of the stuff that was around it on the field: the fireworks, the different things, the kids riding out on their bikes.
“It’s very touching, some of the little moments they had out there in between innings and stuff,” said her husband Chris Lollis. “I figured Philly would do a great job with this. I’m very impressed.”
Demand was so high for the All-Star Game and the Home Run Derby that prices on secondary markets outpaced the World Cup semifinal between France and Spain on Tuesday. But fans found plenty of ways to get in the All-Star spirit outside of just the two marquee events, at the All-Star Village and the red carpet.
The All-Star red carpet at Independence Hall was open to the public without tickets. One father and son waiting on the bleachers hoping for a glimpse of Mike Trout flew in from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., for the weekend.
The trip was a Christmas gift for Oscar Borello, who attended the All-Star Game with his father in 1989 in Anaheim. While Tuesday’s game didn’t provide a moment quite as iconic as the leadoff 448-foot Bo Jackson home run in that game, he cherished the opportunity to share the experience with his own son.
“Philadelphia is the best city that we’ve traveled to as tourists,” Borello said. “It’s phenomenal to share this with my son.”
He was curious to hear the reception to Millville native Trout, returning to the All-Star festivities for the first time since 2023, and starting in the game for the first time since 2019. “I hope it’ll be good. I think Mike Trout being healthy is good for the game of baseball in general” Borello said.
Trout earned a huge ovation, and so did Delco native Kevin McGonigle, playing in his first career All-Star Game. Justin Verlander, retiring at the end of the year, also got big cheers.
Aside from the Phillies themselves, though, they were basically the only ones. After earning some scrutiny for heavy boos during the Home Run Derby, Philly fans came right back on Tuesday, booing every player on an NL East team, teams they’ve recently lost to in the playoffs (Houston, Arizona, the Dodgers), the Yankees, Home Run Derby champion Jordan Walker, and also the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski. Not even the mascots were safe — Mr. and Mrs. Met might’ve been booed louder than any player.
A fireworks show goes off before the start of the fifth inning.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
But, despite Kyle Schwarber’s loss, that electric Home Run Derby crowd was the highlight of the weekend, even for those who came in neutral.
“The Home Run Derby was just awesome,” Adam Dashner, who drove in from Pittsburgh with his dad for the weekend. “I think Philadelphia is a good city for that. They played up the heckling for everybody who’s not a Phillie. It was a real hometown crowd. I loved it.”
Philadelphia is set for a huge summer of women’s sports. The Stoop Pigeon wants to be at the center of it.
The Stoop Pigeon hosted a double-watch party for the Wimbledon women’s final and Saturday’s WNBA slate at Dock Street Brewing in South Philly. The organization partnered with United States Tennis Association Middle States and the Philadelphia Sisters, to help promote August’s Ennoble Care Philly Open on the University Pennsylvania’s campus, and Hoopbus, a charitable organization dedicated to the transformative power of basketball. Attendees could play red ball tennis, win tennis racket prize packs, and shoot hoops outside on the bus.
After starting as a monthly WNBA watch party group, The Stoop Pigeon has grown into one of the largest dedicated women’s sports fan communities in the city. Jen Leary, founder of The Stoop Pigeon, now regularly hears from local and national organizations looking to activate the women’s sports communities about partnerships.
“Anytime we hold a certain event, like if it’s tennis, we reach out to all the tennis organizations we can find on the internet,” Leary said. “Similarly, with the WNBA game, Hoopbus reached out to us because they were going to be on this national tour, and they were going to be in Philly. Having them stop here, it’s a win-win. It gives something fun for the community, but also helps us continue again to build momentum for what we’re building.”
Leary emphasized that while The Stoop Pigeon might be one of the most vocal groups, promoting women’s sports in the city is a “team effort,” and a big part of that is partnering with other local organizations.
Attendees play basketball courtesy of Hoopbus outside Dock Street Brewery South during Saturday’s watch party.Erin Blewett / For The Inquirer
“The one thing that women’s sports around the world does is we lift each other up and we work together. Progress in numbers,” she added.
The Stoop Pigeon is aiming to open a women’s sports hub on Broad Street by midfall, Leary said. But in a year with several high-profile women’s sports events, Leary is committed to keeping the momentum growing in the city and building the community as they prepare the space.
After the massive success of Unrivaled in January, Philly will host professional women’s lacrosse, tennis, and squash over the next five months. Leary believes that the efforts The Stoop Pigeon and other organizations have put into developing a women’s sports community in the city are part of the reason Philly is landing more events, but landing the event is half the battle.
“The goal is just to get people there, to show the WTA and all the other women’s sports leagues in the country that Philly is a women’s sports town, and if you come to Philly, we will pack the stadiums like we did with Unrivaled,” Leary said. “Even if you don’t know tennis or even if you don’t know lacrosse, we want you there.”
An attendee holds up a T-shirt reading “Philly Is a Women’s Sports Town” during a watch party Saturday at Dock Street Brewery co-hosted by Hoopbus and The Stoop Pigeon.Erin Blewett / For The Inquirer
For likely the last time, the Sixers are in the hunt to acquire LeBron James.
Philly has been burned before, dreaming of signing James in 2010, 2014, and 2018, only to wind up empty-handed as he used that leverage to sign elsewhere.
Even now, it seems like the favorite in the clubhouse is a return to Cleveland for what could be his final NBA season. But after acquiring Jaylen Brown, the Sixers have been aggressive in pitching James on coming to Philadelphia. The latest involves the man who led the search to replace Daryl Morey — Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment president Bob Myers — pitching James’ agent Rich Paul directly.
On Friday’s episode of Paul’s Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman, Paul, the head of Klutch Sports and James’ longtime friend, used a whiteboard to break down the teams interested in his client, spawning many conspiracy theories about where the four-time MVP could land. Less than a week later, Myers made an appearance to make his case for the Sixers, one of the first teams on Paul’s viral whiteboard.
“If he was here, I’d say I honestly believe [Philly] is your best chance to win,” Myers said. “… What I would just say is, if it’s about winning, let’s talk about this team. Because you can win here in Philly.”
Previously on the podcast, Paul said “everything changed” for James when the Sixers acquired Brown, turning Philly into a much more attractive destination. He also pointed to James’ relationships with executive vice president Jameer Nelson, who was an early NBA contemporary, and president of basketball operations Mike Gansey, against whom he played in high school in Ohio. And Paul discussed how James would fit with some of the current Sixers, including fellow Klutch Sports client Tyrese Maxey.
“He loves Maxey, so we don’t even have to talk about that,” he said. “I think VJ [Edgecombe], he helps VJ understand really how to play the game. Obviously, Jaylen Brown. Embiid, his health and habits, the health and habits of Embiid are there. [James] enhances everything there. He unlocks everything there.”
Does that all mean there’s actually a chance? Or is it still a leverage play? After their offseason signings, the Sixers only have the space to sign James to a veteran minimum. That shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for James, who reportedly is more interested in his legacy than money, but it could indicate that the Sixers don’t have much confidence.
ESPN NBA insiders Brian Windhorst and Shams Charania believe the team has a real shot. And, according to Charania, Philly is among his top three teams.
“When the Sixers got Jaylen Brown, I did some research, and [LeBron] is taking their pitch very seriously,” Charania said Tuesday. “When I talk to teams now I have a hierarchy of Cleveland, Miami, Philadelphia, and then some teams on the peripheral.”
Meanwhile, Windhorst reported that while there’s a lean toward Cleveland, the Sixers don’t feel like they’re out of it.
“While there is a ‘vibe’ pointing toward the Cavs, coming off their best non-LeBron season in more than 30 years and signing Donovan Mitchell to a four-year maximum contract extension, other teams are not counting themselves out,” Windhorst wrote. “The Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Philadelphia 76ers each believe they have a compelling case, per sources.“
It’s not clear when James expects to make a decision, and the speculation could continue deeper into the summer. But it does appear James is at least considering the Sixers. Then again, he said that last time.
Tyrese Maxey averaged the most minutes in the NBA last season, and VJ Edgecombe wasn’t far behind in 11th place.
Lightening their workload and building a deeper lineup was a key focus of Mike Gansey’s first offseason as Sixers president of basketball operations. That process has started in earnest by bringing in Anfernee Simons to serve as the third guard off the bench.
“Helping them out as much as I can, whether it’s handling the ball or being off the ball and giving them space to work,” Simons said, “whether it’s giving them a break and letting me go out there and have the ball in my hands, just doing anything it takes for us to be successful as a team.”
After spending his first seven seasons in Portland primarily as a starter, Simons was traded to the Boston Celtics ahead of the 2025-26 season and took on a bench role.
“At first it was just me figuring out what the game needs at that time,” Simons said, “whether it’s going out there and just being aggressive instantly [when] we’re struggling to score the ball, or whether it’s feeling out the game, just continuing to compete on the defensive end, and letting my shots come to me.”
He averaged 14.2 points in 24.5 minutes for Boston in 49 appearances before being traded to the Chicago Bulls at the deadline. Simons’ season ended soon after because of a wrist injury, which he said will not impact him heading into next season.
Simons also should help the Sixers’ three-point shooting, something the team struggled with for most of last season. The Sixers attempted 35.3 threes per game, which rated 21st in the NBA, and made 34.9% of them, which ranked 23rd.
Anfernee Simons made 39.5% of his three-point attempts with the Boston Celtics last season. Tyler Tate
Simons shot 39.5% from three on 6.7 attempts per game with Boston, which was more per game than every Sixer last season except Maxey and Paul George. That three-point shooting threat also opens the floor for Joel Embiid down low, with Simons as another catch-and-shoot option out wide.
“He’s a force in himself,” Simons said. “Most of the time, the attention is always going to be on him … I love to get catch-and-shoots, if that’s what the game allows me to get. It just makes it easier for everybody else, and it’ll be an easier job for me to be able to go out there and just space the floor for him.”
Simons also has experience playing with fellow new Sixer Jaylen Brown in Boston. After Simons was traded to Chicago at the deadline, Brown spoke glowingly of Simons as a teammate.
Simons, who’s 6-foot-3, knows he could spend time alongside Maxey (6-2) or Edgecombe (6-4). The Sixers also could move Brown (6-6) to power forward at times like they did with George last year. With a smaller lineup, he stressed the importance of being locked in and aligned defensively to counteract the height disadvantage, and said Brown is the “epitome” of a two-way player.
“He is going to guard the best player and go out there and give you 30,” Simons said. “I think that’s what makes him special, what makes him different. He’s going to come in and bring that championship mentality from Day 1 and try to instill that in the team.”
Fresh off the first playoff berth of his career, Tyson Foerster locked in his future with the Flyers and signed an eight-year extension with $7.1 million average annual value last week.
Foerster was leading the team in goals before he missed 49 games last season with an upper-body injury and returned just in time for the playoffs. But instead of waiting a year to potentially increase his value with a healthy season, Foerster chose to extend now.
“For me, I love Philadelphia, and I love playing with these guys,” he said. “They asked me if I would look to extend this year, and it was a no-brainer for me. I mean, I don’t play hockey for the money, so it’s all fun, and just happy to be here, hopefully, for the next nine years.”
Even with wing prospects pushing up the lineup for spots, Foerster projects to be a top-six fixture for much of his contract’s duration. The Flyers’ 2020 first-round pick scored 20 goals in 2023-24 and 25 goals in 2024-25 and was on pace to set a career high before his injury.
Tyson Foerster has solidified himself as a major part of the Flyers’ future. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Foerster didn’t have the playoff run he may have wanted, netting just one goal in 10 games. With a mostly healthy offseason ahead, he has plenty to work on as the Flyers continue to build.
“Keep working on my skating, everything overall, but hopefully work on my hands a little bit,” he said. “I think my shot’s pretty good, and I can score from a decent ways out. But I think if I can get in tight around the net, get it upstairs quick enough, little things like that, maybe try and beat a guy one-on- one with a skill play, just something along those lines. That’s what I’m starting to work on here.”
The Flyers hope signing Foerster is just the beginning of an offseason of upgrades. General manager Danny Brière tendered an offer sheet to Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson in an effort to land the top-line center the Flyers have been missing.
Regardless of whether the Ducks match, the move provides evidence to the fan base and players that Brière is ready to be creative and aggressive to improve the team.
“Danny, that’s one of the reasons I signed a long-term here, because he’s going to try and push to make us better,” Foerster said.
The Sixers stunned the NBA by acquiring Jaylen Brown in a trade with the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
The five-time NBA All-Star and 2024 Finals MVP has quite a history with the Sixers over his last 10 years in the NBA.
Here are a few of them of note:
History with the Sixers
Brown was the third overall pick in 2016, the year the Sixers drafted Ben Simmons first overall. The Sixers worked Brown out, but ultimately didn’t stray from the widespread consensus and drafted Ben Simmons. But after the trade, fans uncovered a few old photos of Brown in Sixers gear from that pre-draft process.
“It’s just another prospect who we wanted to see and bring into Philadelphia,” Marc Eversley, vice president of player personnel at the time, said about Brown. “He’s one of those guys who’s up in that area that we’re looking at. He’s a high-level prospect. As you saw today, he shoots the ball extremely well. He had a terrific year at Cal, and we just wanted to get him here in Philly and take another look at him.”
An All-Philly debut
Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley made their late night debut on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX. The other guest in the building that day? None other than Jaylen Brown.
All three (plus the Eagles offensive line) appeared on the Feb. 11 episode, with Brown on set to promote a sponsor and the upcoming NBA All-Star Game. Now, they’re all in the same city.
Brown’s big social media presence
Brown is extremely active on social media, under the handle “FCHWPO” on Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch. The handle stands for “faith, consistency, hard work pays off,” which he’s used since before he was drafted.
His Twitch streams helped make him more accessible to his fans, but have also occasionally started drama, including with Joel Embiid.
Brown faced off with the Sixers often
During Brown’s tenure with the Celtics, they met the Sixers in the playoffs four times. Brown has an all-time playoff record of 14-8 against the Sixers, including three series wins in 2018, 2020, and 2023, and one loss in 2026. He averaged 22.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in the four series.
One day after the Celtics lost Game 7 to the Sixers in early May, Brown hopped on a Twitch livestream.
“Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in [expletive] basketball history,” Brown said. “[He] flops. He knows it. This ain’t breaking news. It is what it is.”
Brown also said that the refs have had an agenda against him, which causes him to get called for offensive fouls on his off-arm push-offs.
“I’ve actually spoke to some refs and they said it was an agenda going into each game,” Brown said. “Anytime Jaylen brings his arm up, just from reputation, just call it. But Paul George does the same thing, Jalen Brunson does the same thing … I could go down the list. It’s a basketball play, whether y’all believe it or not.”
Bronny comments
The next biggest question on every Sixers fan’s mind is the lingering seed of hope that LeBron James could sign in Philadelphia.
At Summer League in 2024, Brown was caught on camera telling a friend that he did not believe that James’ son, Bronny, who had just been drafted in the second round by the Lakers, was a pro-caliber player.
Brown later tweeted an apology.
“It’s a flex to have your son alongside you in the NBA, it reflects greatness and longevity!” Brown wrote. “Bronny has all the tools around him to be successful. I look forward to watching his growth.”
It’s a flex to have your son alongside you in the nba it reflects greatness and longevity !Bronny has all the tools around him to be successful I look forward to watching his growth https://t.co/qO4muFSvrn
“Our relationship has been pretty respectful, besides that [expletive] he said about Bronny at Summer League, but other than that, we’ve been all right,” James said with a joking tone. “I think he went on social media and said something about it. It’s all good.”
Jett Luchanko will not be on the ice for any of the Flyers’ development camp this week.
“He had a little lower body thing going on,” director of player development Riley Armstrong said Monday. “Should be back skating next week, and he’ll be ready for training camp, though.”
The injury is a “lingering” one, Luchanko said, that has impacted him for a “couple of years,” but he declined to go into specifics about the injury or his recovery.
“It’s been dealt with, and I should be good for training on the ice next week,” the young center said. Luchanko missed last year’s development camp and rookie camp with a nagging groin ailment.
He doesn’t expect the injury to impact his offseason training, outside of holding him out of on-ice activities at development camp. This offseason is critical for the Flyers’ 2024 first-round pick, who has aged out of the Ontario Hockey League and will be fighting for a full-time NHL roster spot for the first time on a team with a lot of depth up front.
Luchanko, who turns 20 in August, made the NHL roster out of camp each of the last two seasons, but played just four games each year before getting sent back to the OHL. Including playoffs, he has not logged a point in any of his nine NHL appearances. He tallied seven goals and 43 points in 38 games in juniors last season split between the Guelph Storm and the Brantford Bulldogs.
“We expect a big summer out of him,” general manager Danny Brière told the Inquirer ahead of the draft. Luchanko is an elite skater, but is still looking to develop his all-around offensive game.
Luchanko should be “good to go” to get back in the gym next week, he said. The center said he wants to spend the summer working on “attacking with the puck, using my speed as much as I can.”
Jack Berglund, a second-round pick of the Flyers in 2024, will also miss on-ice activities at development camp.
Berglund’s exclusion is viewed more as precautionary after he played a lot of hockey this year, according to Armstrong. In addition to playing 40-plus professional games in Sweden, the center participated in the World Juniors, World Championships, and had a brief spell in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Grebenkin skates
Nikita Grebenkin was a welcome sight on the ice during development camp Tuesday. Grebenkin played 55 games for the Flyers and scored four goals and added 10 assists, serving as a bottom-six spark plug after being acquired the previous season in the Scott Laughton trade. He missed the final months of the season following an upper-body injury in March.
Flyers right wing Nikita Grebenkin skated Tuesday, potentially a positive sign regarding his rehab from an upper-body injury.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Briére said at the end of the Flyers’ season that Grebenkin’s injury could keep him out for the start of next season.
There was no official update on Grebenkin’s health, but seeing him on the ice could be a positive sign for his training camp availability. Grebenkin was also wearing No. 17 on his helmet, possibly his new number after Luchanko, who previously used the number, switched to 77.
Back to school
East Lansing is turning into Little Philadelphia with the number of Flyers prospects moving through that program. Porter Martone played one season at Michigan State last year, becoming one of the school’s highest-ever drafted players and ranking in the top 10 nationally with 50 points.
“Having Porter there was unbelievable,” Flyers prospect and fellow Spartan Shane Vansaghi said. “Right from Day 1, the first day I met him, just the nicest kid, really good teammate, and one of those guys that you just want to have on your team, you want to play for, and really good in the locker room. He fit in really well at Michigan State, and got along with everybody, and I think everyone really liked him.”
Now, fellow Flyers prospect Matthew Gard is also committed to Michigan State, starting in 2027, and said that Martone and Vansaghi’s endorsements of the school’s player development helped him make his decision. Gard said they spoke especially highly of the strength coaches, who Martone is headed back to East Lansing to work with again this summer.
Flyers prospect Jack Nesbitt will be headed to the University of Michigan next season.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
There’s no rivalry brewing yet with 2025 first-round pick Jack Nesbitt, who will start at Michigan in the fall, but he’s not ruling it out.
“We’ve been chatting a little bit, no rivalries yet,” Nesbitt joked. “I’m sure when we see who’s going to go farther, I’m sure there’ll be some chirping. We’re good right now, but I’m sure there’ll be something in the future.”
Breakaways
Flyers prospects Carter Amico and Jack Murtagh were selected for the Team USA World Junior Summer Showcase, putting them on the early list of prospects in contention to make the American team for December’s World Juniors in Alberta.
