Philadelphia 76ers star LeBron James has a new partnership with Polymarket, and plenty of NBA fans made it clear they are not thrilled about it.
James posted a 14-second video on X on September 5 showing him entering a Polymarket-branded office before teasing something “coming soon.”
“Welcome to Polymarket HQ. Coming soon,” James wrote. “In partnership with @Polymarket.”
In partnership with @Polymarket
The post quickly went viral, but so did the criticism underneath it. Some fans questioned why one of the wealthiest and most prominent athletes in the world would align himself with a company operating prediction markets, particularly when those markets can involve NBA players and their career decisions.
One highly shared response from X user Reed Jackson read, “Richer than god and still selling out to the gambling company. Sad as hell.”
Content creator Danny2K offered a similar reaction.
“Bron is a billionaire there’s no reason to be promoting trash like this dude,” he wrote before deleting the post.
The response is notable because this isn’t happening in a vacuum. James himself was the subject of massive prediction-market activity just weeks before joining Philadelphia.
LeBron James’ Sixers Decision Generated Massive Prediction-Market Action
The size of the market surrounding James gives the backlash another layer.
Zack Abrams of The Block reported that more than $273 million worth of contracts tied to James’ latest free-agency decision changed hands across prediction-market platforms. Philadelphia was trading at roughly a 9% probability before James ultimately chose the Sixers, according to the report.
That means James is now partnering with a company operating in an industry that had already turned one of the biggest decisions of his career into a heavily traded event.
It doesn’t establish that James did anything improper, and his announcement itself does not say he will be involved with NBA markets.
In fact, a representative for James told The Block that the video is a teaser for a larger campaign scheduled to roll out next week and that James’ work with Polymarket will focus on football. His previous ambassador agreement with DraftKings has also expired, according to the representative.
Those distinctions matter. The exact nature of the Polymarket relationship — including whether James will serve as an ambassador, appear in advertisements or have some broader role — has not yet been fully disclosed.
But they haven’t stopped the announcement from becoming a flashpoint.
Polymarket Partnership Puts LeBron James in an Unusual Position
Prediction markets allow users to trade contracts based on whether particular events will occur, and James has already been the subject of them.
Polymarket, for example, operated a market asking whether James would retire before the start of the 2026-27 NBA season. The market listed more than $300,000 in trading volume.
That distinction helps explain why some of the response to Saturday’s announcement has gone beyond the normal criticism an athlete might receive for another sponsorship.
James isn’t merely a celebrity endorsing a financial platform. He’s also an active NBA player whose decisions can directly determine the outcome of prediction markets involving millions of dollars.
There has been no indication that James has access to, participates in or influences markets offered by Polymarket, and the teaser did not reveal enough about the partnership to draw conclusions about what his role will entail.
For Sixers fans, the basketball implications may ultimately be nonexistent.
But the timing guarantees attention. James is preparing for his first season in Philadelphia after one of the most closely watched free-agency decisions of his career. Now, just weeks later, a company operating in the same prediction-market industry that took hundreds of millions of dollars in action on that decision has become one of his newest business partners.
And judging by the immediate reaction, plenty of fans are uncomfortable with the combination.
76ers Star LeBron James Faces Major Backlash Over Polymarket Partnership