Twenty-eight NBA teams held media day Monday, one day before training camp practices opened. LeBron James spoke in a Philadelphia 76ers jersey for the first time. Giannis Antetokounmpo did the same for the Miami Heat, and Kawhi Leonard was back with the Toronto Raptors seven years after winning a title there.
The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets held their sessions last week before leaving for the 2026 NBA China Games in Macao. The New York Knicks will open their title defense after beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games in June for the franchise's first championship since 1973.
LeBron James Joins Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia
James wore No. 23 at the 76ers' practice facility in Camden, New Jersey. He is 41 and entering his 24th NBA season.
Philadelphia first sent Paul George and four draft picks to the Boston Celtics for Jaylen Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP. Tyrese Maxey, also a Klutch Sports client, has known James since 2020, when he was preparing for the draft.
James would not discuss how long he plans to keep playing. He is focused on the present in year 24.
"I had a list of five teams that I was interested in," James said. "...I have a really, really good – I don't want to say good – great relationship with Tyrese. And we talked about a lot. I picked his brain a lot. Not only where he sees his career going, how he sees the franchise here, how much he believes in the franchise, and if I was to come here, how does he see me fitting in?"
"Do we think it'd be a plus or do we think it'd be a negative?" James continued. "Because I understand my personality and what comes with me, sometimes it could be a negative... It wasn't just one conversation. But I think our relationship, when I broke a lot of the teams down, when I broke a lot of the franchises down that I could possibly play for, he was one of the main deciding factors."
Joel Embiid appeared noticeably thinner. Over the last three seasons, he has played in 42% of Philadelphia's games. The Sixers have not reached the conference finals since 2001.
"I didn't leave my family to lose in the second round," James said. "I know that for sure. So the work needs to be done, and I'm ready to put the work in."
“The luxury of my game is that I can do everything... Literally I can do everything.”
— NBA (@NBA) September 28, 2026
At Sixers Media Day, LeBron reminds everyone about his versatility ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season 😆 pic.twitter.com/13FLzXOUBl
Giannis Antetokounmpo Starts His First Heat Camp
Antetokounmpo spent 13 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks before Miami traded for him this summer. The Heat opened camp Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.
Miami also added Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis, and Tim Hardaway Jr. After years on opposite sides, Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo did their media day session together.
"It's fire meeting fire," Antetokounmpo said. "If I guard Bam every day at practice, when he goes against any player in the league, it would be much harder. It goes both ways. That competitive spirit, we have to keep activating that. We have to keep pushing one another and setting the example."
The goal in Miami is a championship, and Antetokounmpo is going to succeed or fail by working. He said that "if not the best," he is one of the best players in the world.
"ESPN, Bleacher Report, whatever it's called, ranking as #1, greatest school," Antetokounmpo explained. "I don't think in 20, 30 years from now I'm going to show my kids that. But I can go to the trophy case and show them like, hey, we actually won the whole thing. And that's what it's about for me. I don't care about being the best. I care about being a winner."
In Milwaukee, he won two MVP awards and the 2021 championship. Miami opens the regular season Oct. 21 at Kaseya Center against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kawhi Leonard opens his Raptors press conference with a statement regarding the recent NBA investigation. pic.twitter.com/FMpSfcE15K
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 28, 2026
Kawhi Leonard Returns to the Raptors
Leonard, 35, won his second Finals MVP in his only season in Toronto, when the Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors in 2019. His trade from the LA Clippers back to Toronto was held up by the NBA's investigation into the Clippers' salary-cap circumvention, and it was completed earlier this month.
"I know why some of you guys came," Leonard said. "You want to hear about the investigation. Talking with the NBA and the [National Basketball Players Association], I think the best decision is to move forward and focus on my time being a Toronto Raptor."
"I already was a distraction for the past 70 days and wasn't able to meet my teammates, do any of that minicamp stuff with them," Leonard continued. "Moving forward, I just want to talk about the Toronto Raptors. ... I just want to focus on basketball again."
Last week, Leonard agreed to a two-year extension that could be worth $115 million if he plays both seasons, according to The Associated Press. Last season, he averaged 27.9 points in 65 games.
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said Toronto knows what it is walking into with Leonard's health.
"To be honest with you, I want Kawhi to play 82 games and 48 minutes every night," Rajakovic said. "But the reality is, his age and his history with injuries, we've got to be super smart there."
Toronto has won one playoff series since the 2019 title. Last spring, the Raptors took the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round.
"We can be real dangerous on that end of the floor," Raptors forward Scottie Barnes said. "We've got guys that move their feet really well, pick it up full court. It's starting from 94 feet throughout the whole game. I think it's going to be real scary."
Jalen Brunson Cleared as Knicks Open Title Defense
Jalen Brunson had surgery in July to repair a tendon issue in his left wrist and is cleared for camp. He was Finals MVP after averaging 28.4 points in the playoffs, and he scored 45 in the Game 5 clincher in San Antonio.
The wrist was "painful, but I clearly could play through it," Brunson said Monday at the team's training facility in Tarrytown, New York.
"Didn't think I necessarily needed surgery, so if that was the case, maybe I would have gotten it done sooner," Brunson said. "So yeah, I was just playing through it, didn't think anything of it, and I feel good. And we'll see."
Eleven of the Knicks' top 12 rotation players from last season are back. Mitchell Robinson is not. He signed a three-year, $47 million deal with the Boston Celtics, and Andre Drummond is the veteran replacement.
Karl-Anthony Towns is waiting on a new deal. He will make $57 million this season and holds a $61 million player option for 2027-28. A maximum extension would be worth a projected $276 million over four years. During the playoff run, Towns averaged 15.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 4.9 assists.
Towns has been a Knicks fan since he was a kid.
"I would like to get one done," Towns said. "I'd like to get it done and step on the floor and feel as comfortable as possible."
Josh Hart and Miles McBride are also extension-eligible. The power went out at the facility during the session, and Hart finished one answer in the dark.
Victor Wembanyama Opens Camp After Finals Loss
San Antonio beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference finals before losing to New York in five. In Game 4, the Knicks came back from 29 points down to win 107-106, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. Victor Wembanyama averaged 26 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks in the series.
In August, he brought teammates to Paris for workouts. He also trained with French rugby club Provence Rugby in Aix-en-Provence. He keeps a regimented schedule that includes a 9 p.m. bedtime.
"I can't answer that question because it's not over," Wembanyama said. "It evolves with time. I've had a few sleepless nights, maybe not sleepless nights, but hard to find sleep sometimes or hard emotions, [haunting] sometimes. But the reason is just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it. And we don't want to hide from anything."
"So, we're going to face these emotions, face the reality that we have a hundred games to play, 100 plus [including the postseason], and this is the reality of it," Wembanyama continued. "We're in a great spot. We're very hopeful, very ambitious, and we're ready."
Tobias Harris, speaking for the first time as a Spur, said San Antonio's championship ambitions made it a "perfect match." The Spurs open the regular season Oct. 20 at home against Oklahoma City.
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