The One and Only Dr. J Talks LeBron James, Wealth, and Dealing With Philly Fans
The Sixers legend tells all.
Sixers legend Julius Erving / Photograph by Stevie Chris
It’s a big month for basketball in Philadelphia. In July, we learned that LeBron James had signed an $8 million, two-year deal with the Sixers; he makes his debut this month. The team hasn’t made it to the finals since 2001 and hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1983 — when Dr. J was on the team. We decided to catch up with the four-time MVP and 16-time All-Star to talk about the future of his former team, and what it’s like being a Philadelphia hero.
Mr. Erving, it sounds like you’re in a busy airport.
I am! The airport in Atlanta, which is where I live, and I’m heading to Chicago today for a thing called the National Show. It’s a lot of autograph signing and memorabilia collecting. It’s the biggest in the country.
Do you do a lot of these?
Every month, there’s an opportunity, but it’s just like all the golf outings I get invited to. I’m invited to an outing every month, and maybe I’ll do eight in a year. Same with the fan fests. I get invited to come hang out with the Sixers a lot, and I do maybe 12 in a season. I like to have the phone ring.
Are these signings lucrative?
Everybody establishes their own level, and since I’ve been doing them for more than 30 years, I’ve been able to build up a respectable number1.
As you can imagine, people in Philly are pretty excited about your former team right now. There’s a lot of LeBron hype.
Oh, I can imagine that the city is going bonkers over it.
Is the hype warranted?
Oh, every bit, every bit. LeBron has been phenomenal. Nobody has shown the longevity, the ability to stay at the highest level. We were able to go to four finals when I was on the team. Even though we only won one, we’re still the last one standing until this team claims one2. And I’m hopeful that they will, because I’m tired of waiting. The Sixers over the next two years will not only be a force to be reckoned with, but an intimidating force. We already had a multilevel playoff team, then we got Jaylen Brown, and now to add LeBron?
People talk about LeBron like he’s a superhero. If you were his coach, where would you see room for improvement?
I don’t think it’s about improvement right now. I think it’s about consistency. He knows everything there is to know about playing basketball — playing winning basketball — and now it’s a matter of applying that night in and night out. Plus, LeBron’s role in the locker room cannot be overstated. I’ve never been in the locker room with him, but I would think when a guy knows that much, you’re going to walk over and ask him what he thinks. No matter how many games he plays, you get that around the clock.
Philadelphia has a rough reputation when it comes to fans. How did the fans treat you?
I never had a bad experience with the fans in Philadelphia. I’ve seen the fans rowdy. I remember one time Doug Collins said, “One thing I’m happy about is I’ve never been booed in Philadelphia.”3 And then the crowd started booing. But my run in Philadelphia was great.
Where did you live when you played here?
I lived in Villanova; I had a condo downtown on Broad Street; I had a condo in Atlantic City.
Big casino guy?
Big beach guy! It was a great escape. When you’re in Philly, you either go to the mountains or the shore in summer. We went to the shore. I resided in Philadelphia from ’76 to ’95. And I started a business in Philadelphia, a shoe salon. I called it Doctor’s Shoe Salon. It was at 2nd and South. I had Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell come in and get free pairs of shoes for taking a picture in the front of my store. [Laughs]
I’m surprised you had shoes to fit Wilt!
We started at size 11 and went to 22.4
So when you’re not playing golf or signing autographs, what are you doing?
My favorite pastime is my family. Wife, cousins, kids, grandkids. And I golfed four times in the last five days. Three times in Las Vegas and yesterday in Atlanta. And then traveling. I was fortunate enough at the age of 20 to travel to Finland and Russia as a player on the Olympic development team, and even though I didn’t play in the Olympics because I turned pro, that really lit a fire in me for traveling and seeing the world. So I’ve traveled ever since 1970, and I’ve been everywhere, some places five times, because if I like a place, I go back to it.
Okay, time for predictions. Do the Sixers make it past round two of the playoffs this season?
I believe so! They haven’t been past round two in a long time. And they haven’t been to the finals since 2001 with Allen.
And will they get to the finals?
I don’t know. Everybody’s shuffling the deck right now. You won’t really know until the trade deadline in February. The week after that, you can pretty much pinpoint who the two teams are going to be in the finals.
I have a childhood memory of an Atari game with you playing against Larry Bird. Am I remembering that correctly?
That’s right! We played one-on-one. But it wasn’t Atari. It was Electronic Arts in Silicon Valley.5
How much did EA pay you?
Larry and I both got modest compensation. Well, he got a $15,000 check. I got $15,000 worth of stock.
I have a feeling you made out better.
Yeah, I did. It went to $300 or $400 at some point before I got rid of it. The stock deal was the one time I got the better of Larry Bird. [Laughs]
The game has changed a lot since you played. Which of the changes do you like?
I like the fast pace. I like the showmanship, which was something my coaches didn’t really approve of, so we didn’t do it. But the players today do things that are appealing to their fans, and you see little kids mimicking what the pros do, so obviously that’s a positive thing for the sport because it brings more people in.
What don’t you like?
The way they do reviews of different things. They have not perfected how to officiate that. If an official missed it, then they missed it. It’s a judgment call, not an exact science. It was a pretty good league and pretty good basketball when it was a judgment call. Also, when I played, the referees got a lot of respect. Now they’re constantly getting booed by the fans, they’re getting cursed out. I don’t think that’s fair. They work hard at this job, and some of them have for 30 or 40 years. Go back to the judgment call! [Sound of Dr. J’s flight to Chicago being called over the public address system] But, look, I gotta make my way down to the gate, bro.
You flying first-class?
Of course!
Footnotes:
- Expect to pay around $200 for a photo op with Dr. J at these shows, on top of the entry cost. ↩
- In addition to the Sixers’ 1983 win, the team took home the title in 1955 (when they were known as the Nationals) and 1967. ↩
- Collins played for the Sixers from ’73 to ’81 and coached from 2010 until the team’s disastrous 2013, which was when he was mercilessly booed. ↩
- Notably, Doctor’s Shoe Salon, which closed in 1982, didn’t sell a single sneaker. Only dress shoes, starting at $85 per pair. ↩
- The 1983 game was originally created for the Apple II but was later available on ColecoVision, Commodore 64, TRS-80, Amiga, and Atari’s 8-bit and 7800 versions. (You’re welcome, nerds.) ↩
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Published as “The Doctor Is In” in the October 2026 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
