LeBron James has already sacrificed plenty for one last championship chase. After earning more than $52.6 million last season, the 41-year-old accepted a two-year, $8 million deal to join the Philadelphia 76ers. But where James spends his time away from the court could make his dramatic pay cut even more interesting.

And New York has emerged as one possibility. Brian Windhorst said James “doesn’t seem like he’s going to live in Philadelphia full time,” adding that “it seems like he’s going to live at least part time in New York.” Shams Charania was even more open-ended: “Will he live in Philly? Will he live in New Jersey? Will he live in New York? Will he take a chopper back and forth? We don’t know those answers yet.”

That possibility comes with a staggering price tag. Front Office Sports did the math on a potential helicopter commute, noting, “It’s only about 45 minutes by helicopter, and Blade lists one-way charters from East 34th Street to Penn’s Landing near the 76ers’ arena for around $4,000 to $10,000.” FOS added, “Double the price for a round trip, then multiply that by Philly’s 41 home games, and LeBron would spend between $363,000 and $791,000 before practices. Keep in mind that’s almost a quarter of his 76ers’ salary this year.”

The comparison is striking because James’ first-year base salary is only about $3.9 million, with a player option worth roughly $4.1 million for Year 2. After making more than $52.6 million with the Lakers last season, his new salary represents a year-over-year reduction of roughly $48.7 million, or 92.6%.

James has made clear why he was willing to leave that money behind. “I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point?” he wrote after choosing Philadelphia. “I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.”

If James ultimately chooses New York, though, he would hardly be inventing the Sixers’ long-distance commute.

LeBron could follow a Sixers commute once made by Redick and Chamberlain

J.J. Redick already tested a version of that lifestyle during his two seasons in Philadelphia from 2017 to 2019. His family remained in DUMBO, Brooklyn, while Redick regularly drove roughly 100 miles between New York and the Philadelphia area, with trips lasting around 90 minutes to two hours. He also kept an apartment near Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station for back-to-backs and late nights. “I got used to it in L.A.,” Redick told Sports Illustrated in 2017. “The traffic in L.A was pretty bad.”

Wilt Chamberlain took the arrangement even further. While playing for the 76ers from 1965 to 1968, Chamberlain continued living in Manhattan and running his Harlem nightclub, Big Wilt’s Smalls Paradise, while commuting to Philadelphia by train and car. The arrangement became so embedded in his Sixers tenure that Philadelphia moved its practices to the afternoon to accommodate his roughly 90-minute train ride from New York.

The commute hardly stopped Chamberlain from dominating. He won three consecutive MVP awards with Philadelphia from 1966 through 1968, while the 1966-67 Sixers went 68-13 and beat Boston 4-1 in the Eastern Division Finals before winning the NBA championship. Alongside Hal Greer, Chet Walker and Billy Cunningham, Chamberlain helped end the Celtics’ run of eight consecutive titles.

Philadelphia has now gone 43 years without another championship, but the market believes this roster has a legitimate chance to change that. The Sixers opened the offseason around +6000 to +7000 to win the 2027 title before shortening to +2000 to +2500 after the Jaylen Brown trade. James’ arrival then sent them all the way to +900 to +1000, with the +900 price tying New York for the shortest championship odds in the Eastern Conference.

Whether James ultimately follows Redick and Chamberlain down the New York-to-Philadelphia route remains unresolved. But if he does, Chamberlain left quite the precedent: three MVPs, one championship and proof that an unconventional commute does not have to get in the way of making history in Philadelphia.