When fans anticipated toasting to LeBron James’ historic 24th NBA season, we didn’t think it would be in an unprecedented mid-game wine tasting. During the Philadelphia 76ers’ home game against the Chicago Bulls at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the 41-year-old superstar did the most unexpected thing for everyone watching. Now, after the 126–107 win’s dust settled, both LeBron James and the fan who recorded the most epic moment in King James’ 24th season have spoken up.

The viral moment happened while James was chasing down an out-of-bounds pass in the third quarter. He crashed into the courtside seats, found his gravity very quickly and suddenly, took the spectator’s glass to take a sip. Without breaking any momentum, he sprinted right back to his in-game assignment.

Following the game, ESPN’s Sixers insider, Kris Rhim, caught up with the fan, identified as Troy Clemons, a longtime Sixers supporter in a classic Sixers jacket, to break down the absurd moment that captivated social media.

“Walk up to my seat, you know, whatever this beverage is—we won’t say what it is,” Clemons told Rhim on video while holding a fresh drink. “LeBron crashed into me; he grabbed me, he said, ‘My bad.’ My drink spilled everywhere, he took my drink from me, and he basically just took a sip of it and gave it back and ran back on the field [court]. Yeah, I mean, I’m just glad for him to be here, you know. I’m not worried about the wine getting on me, you know, but you know I appreciate everything the Sixers are doing and I’m here to have a good time, man, appreciate it.”

When asked about online fans insisting he should frame or preserve the now-famous container, Clemons offered a refreshingly grounded perspective.

“At the end of the day, he’s another man like me, and he’s a regular… I mean, he’s LeBron, but at the end of the day, I threw that cup in the trash, and it’s nothing up with him,” Clemons declared. “It’s going on; it’s nothing up with him. I just got a fresh drink, though.”

While all that is well and good, fans couldn’t help but dust off the classic Friends ‘You threw it away?’ meme.

Meanwhile, in the Philadelphia locker room, James, who did, in fact, confirm he’d been a wine connoisseur since he turned 30, explained his rationale behind sampling a spectator’s drink mid-possession.

“I spilled some of his wine. I crashed into him, spilled some of his wine,” James told Rhim. “So I wanted to see if it was worth it on my arm and how good it was. It was all right.”

It may not have impressed Sommelier Bron that much, but it didn’t hamper his game in the slightest. James held his own remarkably well the rest of the night, anchoring Philadelphia’s offense to complete a 15-point, 9-assist, and 7-rebound stat line while shooting 6-for-13 from the field.

Though he did end up twerking after a bucket the next quarter. So that’s curious.

The viral interaction added another memorable chapter to James’ early tenure with the 76ers. Trailing a fast-break opportunity early in the third quarter, James’ momentum carried him past the baseline, directly into Clemons and the nearby people.

Besides the broadcast cameras, multiple fan camera angles abounded. In one clip shared online, it appears that Clemons actually broke Bron’s tumble and perhaps even prevented an injury.

Yet there was no confused bumbling even for a second. LeBron promptly picked up the glass and took a sip to evaluate the vintage.

It was so unexpected that the announcers’ reactions were loud and boisterous, ranging from “He can’t do that” to “he considers himself to be something of a sommelier.” The announcers even questioned if he really took a sip or just sniffed it.

But both Bron and Clemons confirmed a drink was had. Funnily, though, Clemons didn’t initially want to disclose what the beverage was; James had no problem revealing it was wine and reviewing it too. Xfinity Mobile Arena might just have to upgrade their wine offering to suit Mr James’ tastes.

For die-hard Sixers fan Troy Clemons, this is a remarkable personal footnote while celebrating James’ arrival in Philly. With the victory, the new-look 76ers improved to an impressive 7–1 record on the 2026–27 campaign. While Clemons opted not to keep the cup as a high-priced piece of sports memorabilia, he left the arena with a fresh refill and one of the most iconic courtside stories in Philadelphia sports history immortalized on the Internet.

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