Welcome to Philadelphia, LeBron: Eagles' Hurts and Barkley believe James is great for city sports

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — There was business to discuss as the Philadelphia Eagles opened their sixth training camp under coach Nick Sirianni. They have a new offensive coordinator — yes, another one — and players in new roles and ones playing on hefty new contracts.

So Jordan Davis, one of the biggest offseason beneficiaries of a contract extension, cut to the chase Wednesday and got straight to the topic of the day.

“I will be asking the questions,” Davis said with laugh as he took his seat for a news conference.

“How we feeling about LeBron being in town?”

Yes, in a sports city that each time this summer turns as green in team colors as the cash spent on Davis and fellow defensive tackle Jalen Carter, the Eagles have been overshadowed by the arrival of the most famous active American athlete in LeBron James.

An image of the NBA’s career leading scorer could be seen on the video board outside the Philadelphia 76ers' arena across the street from the Eagles’ practice facility. The newest Sixers superstar had no immediate plans to travel to Philadelphia, but if he does, the Eagles will roll out the red carpet on the green grass for James.

“He can come out to practice any time he wants,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said.

The Eagles welcomed him to Philly with arms as wide open as they are for James' pregame chalk toss.

Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterback Jalen Hurts and 2,000-yard rusher Saquon Barkley both rank somewhere on the short list of most accomplished and most famous Philadelphia athletes. Even they turned into wide-eyed fans much like the rest of Philadelphia when they found out the 41-year-old James had indeed signed a two-year contract with the Sixers.

“I think for what he represents in sports and sports culture,” Hurts said, “it’s huge. And I think it’s huge for the city of Philadelphia. It’ll be exciting to have a figure like that in the city. What’s he done. One of the greatest to ever do it. I’m excited to be a part of that.”

James could do worse than duplicate Barkley's free-agent results when he left the New York Giants after six seasons and signed with the Eagles ahead of the 2024 season. He rushed for a franchise-record 2,005 yards and won a Super Bowl in his first try with the Eagles.

Barkley pitched James at his youth football camp earlier this month on the appeal of playing in Philadelphia.

“If you want to go out with a bang,” Barkley said, "I feel like a great spot would be in Philly, and bringing a championship to Philadelphia, you’d be remembered forever.”

James already had the “remembered forever” stamp in sports thank to his peerless resume in the NBA.

Barkley — who played golf with former President Barack Obama and also invited James on social media to “ tee it up ” — demurred when pressed on his influence in James signing with the Sixers.

Playing with All-Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown surely swayed James more than Barkley. The running back didn't care much how exactly James made his Philly decision, or if James was even aware of his endorsement. He's just thrilled James has joined Philly's star-studded athlete roster.

“I think the city of Philadelphia is a super cool place to be for sports, with how involved the fans are,” Barkley said at training camp. “Having LeBron here is just great for the culture.”

Barkley, Hurts and other Eagles players still on the roster from two seasons ago are among the relatively few in Philadelphia sports history with championship rings. The Eagles won their only two Super Bowls in the last 10 years. The Flyers haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1975 and the Phillies since 2008.

James joins a 76ers franchise that has not won an NBA title since 1983.

He's not here for second place.

The Eagles say, go get 'em.

“Looks like the Sixers are trying to go win one,” said Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith, a Boston Celtics fan. “Can't be mad at that.”

The Eagles placed linebacker Jonathan Greenard on the physically unable to perform list with a pectoral strain. The Eagles acquired the Pro Bowl edge rusher in an April trade with Minnesota. He subsequently agreed to a four-year, $100 million contract extension including $50 million in fully guaranteed money.

Roseman said Greenard should be ready for the Sept. 13 opener against Washington.

“This is not a long-term injury,” Roseman said. “This is nothing we are concerned about."

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Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith (6) runs a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni talks to the media at the team's NFL football training camp in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) takes to the field during practice at the team's NFL football training camp in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) hands the ball off to running back Saquon Barkley (26) during practice at the team's NFL football training camp in Philadelphia, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Elon Musk's company xAI has sued Minnesota over the state's first-in-the-nation law that bans “nudification” technology on websites and apps, potentially providing a test for how far states can go in constitutionally regulating the use of artificial intelligence.

Musk's company sued Monday in federal court, days before the law is set to take effect Saturday and make Minnesota the first state to try to outlaw the increasingly proliferating technology that lets people use AI to to create fake nude images of real people. The law was signed in May.

In the 38-page lawsuit, xAI — whose AI model chatbot and image generator Grok is available on the social media platform known as X, formerly Twitter, and elsewhere — said it does not contest the state's interest in banning the distribution of AI-generated nude images of real people without their consent. But it said Minnesota's law “extends far beyond that goal,” banning many constitutionally protected images and video and subjecting the company to a penalty of $500,000 per violation.

The lawsuit argues there is no “safe harbor” provision for companies that make good-faith efforts to prevent such images from being created by users, and that it covers images that were consented to by the depicted person, or even created by that person.

It also says the law’s definition of “intimate part” is overly broad, covering body parts that are routinely displayed in public.

In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office had not been served with the lawsuit yet or seen it.

“But I know that using AI to generate nude images of people against their will is appalling. There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI policy. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and can cause immense harm on an emotional, personal, and professional level,” Ellison said.

State laws over election deepfakes have had mixed results in courts. California's law was blocked over First Amendment speech protections. Minnesota's law has thus far survived a 2025 court challenge by Musk's company.

The law is distinct from state and federal laws that outlaw deepfakes, AI-generated sexually explicit images of people without their consent. Those laws typically penalize the people who use the tools to make these images, not the makers of the tools themselves. The federal Take it Down Act, passed last year, also requires websites and apps to implement a process to remove those images.

Texas last year took on nudification in a slightly different way. It made a website or app owner liable to civil damages from a person depicted in a nudified image — and potentially criminal penalties — if the website or app owner knew the person hadn't given consent to its creation or fails to take it down promptly when told about it.

In the lawsuit, xAI said the terms of service for using Grok prohibit using it for “any illegal, harmful, or abusive activities" that violate someone's privacy, including altering their image to nudify them or depict them in a sexually explicit image. It said it enforces those rules against violators through account suspensions or terminations, and by reporting suspected child sexual abuse content.

XAI also said earlier this year that it has “zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation, non-consensual nudity, and unwanted sexual content.”

After a global backlash over sexualized images of women and children, Grok said in January it will geoblock content if it violates laws in a particular place, preventing people from editing photos of real people in revealing clothing in places where that is illegal. Grok’s “spicy mode” had allowed users to create explicit content, leading to a backlash from governments worldwide.

“We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis, underwear and other revealing attire,” xAI said in a January statement.

Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter.

FILE - Elon Musk attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)