New Jersey's plan to convince Sixers to relocate is ‘real'

Last week, ROI-NJ reported that the state of New Jersey is "making a serious push" to convince the 76ers to relocate to New Jersey and into a new arena in Camden. The report noted that New Jersey government officials began their pursuit of the NBA franchise in part due to the Sixers ownership hitting "repeated roadblocks" in their efforts to build a new arena in Philadelphia.

On Monday, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy confirmed that talks of the Sixers coming to his state are "real" and not just rumors. Murphy cited New Jersey's strong relationship with Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HBSE) — the group that owns the New Jersey Devils, the Philadelphia 76ers and a practice facility in Camden — as an icebreaker in the talks.

"It's real in the sense there's a serious conversation," Murphy told reporters, via NJ.com. "We've been observing the lack of progress in Philadelphia, and we said: You know what? We're gonna raise this with them. And we're serious about it. They appear to be serious about it. We'll see. You never know where these things land."

The Sixers' lease with the Wells Fargo Center ends after the 2030-31 season. It's no secret that the franchise has been looking for a new home for several years, with the owners being open to self-financing a 1.3 billion project in Center City Philadelphia. However, as Murphy indicated, there's been a "lack of progress" in HBSE's talks with government officials in Philadelphia.

If New Jersey can pry the Sixers away from Philadelphia, the state would be home to an NBA franchise for the first time since the Nets moved to Brooklyn in 2012. The state was also home to the ABA franchise New Jersey Americans, which briefly became the New York Nets in the early 1970s. "Dr. J" Julius Irving was originally a member of the New York Nets before the franchise relocated across the Hudson River.

As for the Sixers, the franchise moved to Philadelphia in 1963 after a near two-decade stint as Syracuse Nationals in the defunct National Basketball League (NBL).