Radio host and media personality Charlamagne Tha God has weighed in on one of the NBA’s most persistent debates, arguing that LeBron James’ decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers should not be lumped in with Kevin Durant’s move to the Golden State Warriors nearly a decade ago, despite both being framed by critics as examples of “ring chasing.”

The comparison has resurfaced since James announced he was signing with Philadelphia, joining a roster that already features Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown — both of whom averaged more than 28 points per game and earned All-NBA selections during the 2025-26 season — along with 2023 MVP Joel Embiid and rising young wing VJ Edgecombe. On paper, it’s a roster loaded with talent for a 41-year-old superstar chasing another championship late in his career.

Two very different paths to a stacked roster

Charlamagne Tha God laid out his case by contrasting the situations James and Durant walked into when they joined their respective new teams. When Durant signed with Golden State in 2016, he was joining a team that had already won a championship in 2015 and had posted the best regular-season record in NBA history, going 73-9, during the 2015-16 season. That Warriors team had also eliminated Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals and came within one win of a second consecutive title before falling in the NBA Finals. The core of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry was already firmly established as a championship-caliber nucleus before Durant arrived.

James’ path, by contrast, involved joining teams that were far from championship contenders at the time. When he signed with the Miami Heat and helped lead the franchise to four consecutive NBA Finals appearances, Miami had been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs three times over the previous four seasons. When James later returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the franchise had missed the playoffs entirely in each of the four years he had been away. And when James led the Los Angeles Lakers to a championship in 2020, that franchise had missed the playoffs for six consecutive seasons beforehand.

‘That’s not ring chasing’

Charlamagne Tha God argued that this pattern — joining struggling franchises and turning them into contenders, rather than joining an already-established powerhouse — is what separates James’ latest move from Durant’s decision nearly a decade earlier.

“KD to Golden State is ring chasing because KD never won a ring anywhere and still hasn’t won a ring anywhere else. He went to Golden State because Golden State were champions and won two rings,” Charlamagne Tha God said. “LeBron has won everywhere he went; he has been the difference maker. So he goes to Philly, that’s not ring chasing.”

The framing positions James’ move to the 76ers as consistent with a career-long pattern, given that Philadelphia has not reached a Conference Finals appearance since 2001 — meaning James is, once again by this logic, joining a team he’ll need to help build up rather than one already positioned at the top of the league.

A perception shift already underway in Philadelphia

Beyond the historical comparison, Charlamagne Tha God’s broader point touches on how James’ presence has already reshaped outside expectations for the 76ers. Before James committed to signing with Philadelphia, the team was not widely regarded as an overwhelming championship favorite. His arrival has visibly shifted that perception across NBA media coverage.

James has also continued to demonstrate he can still influence winning basketball at an advanced stage of his career. During the 2026 playoffs, he averaged 23.2 points per game after being handed increased offensive responsibility following injuries to teammates Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves — a stretch that underscored his continued ability to take over games when circumstances demand it.

A different kind of role in Philadelphia

Unlike previous stops in his career, James isn’t expected to be the unquestioned primary option for the 76ers. Instead, his value in Philadelphia is expected to come from a more situational role — knowing when to take over offensively, when to defer to Maxey and Brown, and how to help stabilize the team when pressure mounts during high-stakes moments.

Should Embiid continue to face the injury issues that have limited him throughout much of his career, James’ role could shift further toward helping keep the team organized while developing Edgecombe and getting the most out of bench contributors such as Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade.

An ongoing debate among NBA fans and media

The comparison between James’ and Durant’s team-building paths remains a point of active debate among fans and analysts alike, with reactions to Charlamagne Tha God’s framing reflecting a broader divide in how people evaluate legacy-building moves late in a superstar’s career. Whether the distinction ultimately holds up may depend on how James and the 76ers perform together this coming season — and whether Philadelphia can translate its newfound star power into the deep playoff runs that have eluded the franchise for more than two decades.

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Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

More than 170,000 borrowers are set to have roughly $11 billion in federal student loan debt erased after a federal appeals court rejected the Education Department’s latest attempt to delay a yearslong class-action settlement, clearing the way for one of the largest debt relief actions in U.S. history to move forward.

The decision, handed down July 17, upholds the settlement schedule in Sweet v. DeVos, a borrower-defense class action originally filed in 2019. The case is now expected to result in at least $23 billion in total federal student loan relief for approximately 500,000 borrowers, according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending, the organization that brought the case on behalf of plaintiffs.

A yearslong fight over broken promises

The lawsuit centers on students who say they were misled or defrauded by predatory for-profit schools and subsequently applied for relief under the federal Borrower Defense rule, which allows borrowers to have their loans forgiven if their school engaged in fraud or other misconduct. Nine original plaintiffs, including Theresa Sweet, a California woman who attended the Brooks Institute of Photography, sued the Education Department — then led by Betsy DeVos — alleging the agency had failed to cancel debts that met the criteria for relief.

In their original 2019 court filing, the borrowers argued that the schools “actually delivered worthless products that left students with thousands of dollars in debt, damaged credit, and depleted access to further student aid.” The plaintiffs also alleged that beginning in January 2017, the Education Department began ignoring what they described as a growing backlog of borrower defense claims, reducing its capacity to process them while redirecting resources toward undoing work from the prior administration.

The consequences for borrowers awaiting decisions were often severe. According to the case, many were unable to secure jobs they believed they qualified for and could not obtain loans to buy homes or cars while their claims remained unresolved. One student told the court her loan balance had grown from about $250,000 to more than $400,000 while she waited for a borrower defense application accepted in June 2022 to be resolved.

A settlement repeatedly delayed

The Biden administration reached a settlement in the case in 2022, but according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending, the Trump administration has continued to delay providing relief to borrowers in the years since. The Education Department’s most recent attempt sought to postpone the settlement’s relief schedule by 18 months — a request the federal appeals court rejected in its July 17 ruling.

That ruling means roughly $11 billion in loans are now set to be forgiven for more than 170,000 borrowers who did not receive timely decisions on their borrower defense applications, Eileen Connor, president and executive director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, told USA Today.

‘The largest settlement ever reached against the federal government’

Connor described the scale of the settlement in stark terms. “In terms of monetary relief provided, Sweet is the largest class-action settlement in American history and the largest settlement ever reached against the federal government,” she told USA Today. “It is also among the largest settlements of any kind in the U.S.”

Connor also framed the court’s decision as a broader statement about government accountability. “It forced the federal government to act on roughly half a million long-neglected claims and entitled the overwhelming majority of those borrowers to full settlement relief — including cancellation of debt they should never have owed, corrected credit reports, and, where applicable, refunds of payments they had already made,” she said. “It also made clear that the federal government cannot simply disregard borrowers’ rights and its own legal obligations without consequence.”

Relief already delivered — and what’s still owed

The original 2022 settlement has already resulted in $6 billion in federal student loan debt relief for roughly 300,000 borrowers. But the case’s reach expanded significantly during years of continued litigation, as a backlog of more than 210,000 additional borrower defense applications built up while the legal battle played out, according to the Project on Predatory Student Lending. That backlog is now largely responsible for pushing the total number of affected borrowers toward 500,000.

A community shaped by years of waiting

For plaintiffs like Sweet, the settlement represents the resolution of a fight that stretched across two presidential administrations. “This case was always about borrowers coming together to stand up for what was right,” Sweet said in a July 23 news release. “Through the ups and downs of the last seven years, we became a community united by the belief that what happened to us was wrong, and it became clear just how many people had been harmed by the same broken system.”

What borrowers need to know

New applicants seeking borrower defense relief are not eligible for this particular settlement, which applies specifically to the roughly 170,000 borrowers who filed applications in 2022 and did not receive timely decisions. The Education Department’s final deadline to clear these borrowers’ loan debts is June 15, 2027, and affected borrowers are not required to make payments while they wait for forgiveness to take effect.

Connor told CNBC that the average federal student loan balance forgiven under the settlement exceeded $48,000, though she cautioned that individual amounts vary widely, with many borrowers receiving substantially more or less than that average.

Despite the court’s ruling, some members of the original plaintiff class have reported waiting as long as a year and a half for relief to materialize, prompting the Project on Predatory Student Lending to send the Education and Justice departments a formal notice alleging a material breach of the settlement. Borrowers seeking more information about the settlement and the relief process can visit the Project on Predatory Student Lending’s website.

FUNCHAL, Portugal — Hundreds of fans and well-wishers flocked to a cathedral on the Portuguese island of Madeira on Saturday hoping to catch a glimpse of Cristiano Ronaldo marrying his longtime partner, Georgina Rodríguez, only to discover the wedding taking place inside had nothing to do with the soccer star at all.

Rumors had circulated widely that Ronaldo was preparing to marry Rodríguez in his hometown of Funchal over the weekend, despite the Portugal captain’s family publicly denying any such plans. The speculation was enough to draw droves of fans into the center of the city, all hoping to witness the celebrity couple tie the knot.

A different couple entirely

Despite widespread media reports suggesting Ronaldo had scheduled a lavish, star-studded ceremony for Saturday afternoon, the gathered crowd was left disappointed. The wedding actually taking place at the Sé Cathedral belonged not to Ronaldo and Rodríguez, but to a couple named Nicole and Fábio.

As onlookers lined the streets with phones and cameras raised, the reality set in when the bride arrived — slightly late, as is traditional — and was clearly not Rodríguez. Instead, it was Nicole, arriving to marry her husband-to-be, Fábio, who had been waiting at the altar inside.

The cathedral confirmed the mix-up in a post on its official Facebook page, writing, “Congratulations to the couple Nicole and Fábio. After a lot of confusion on the street with so many journalists and tourists, we finally managed to close the church and celebrate.”

A separate post from the cathedral, accompanied by images of the crowd gathered outside as Nicole arrived, added, “We’ve never seen anything like this here in Sé. It was very difficult for the bride to enter the Sé church to get married.”

Guests take the chaos in stride

Despite having to navigate a level of public attention they had not anticipated for their wedding day, some of the couple’s guests found humor in the situation. “We feel like celebrities,” one guest told the local news outlet Diário de Notícias da Madeira. “I find it impressive that these people think Ronaldo would get married today without security.”

Ronaldo himself also appeared to find the episode amusing. The soccer star commented on an Instagram post from Jornal da Madeira covering the incident with a series of cry-laughing emojis, offering his own acknowledgment of the mistaken-identity spectacle without directly addressing his own wedding plans.

No official word on Ronaldo’s actual wedding date

Despite the attention surrounding Saturday’s false alarm, Ronaldo has remained quiet about when he and Rodríguez actually plan to marry. The couple got engaged in August of last year, with Ronaldo presenting Rodríguez with a ring featuring a stone estimated at up to 30 carats and valued as high as $5 million.

The engagement, one of the most closely watched in global sports and celebrity circles, has fueled ongoing speculation about the timing and scale of an eventual wedding, given Ronaldo’s status as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world and Rodríguez’s own prominent public profile as a model, businesswoman and reality television personality.

A day that ultimately belonged to Nicole and Fábio

While the global attention initially centered on two people who were not even present at the cathedral, the day ultimately belonged to the actual couple exchanging vows. Despite drawing a significantly larger congregation than they had anticipated — and the accompanying disruption from journalists and tourists gathered outside — Nicole and Fábio were able to proceed with their ceremony once the cathedral was able to manage the crowd and close its doors to the public.

Part of a broader pattern of attention on Ronaldo

The mix-up adds to a long-running pattern of intense public and media interest in Ronaldo’s personal life, which has often generated outsized attention even around events not directly connected to him. As one of the most followed athletes on the planet, Ronaldo’s off-field milestones — from his relationship with Rodríguez to major family events — routinely draw international coverage and public curiosity, sometimes resulting in speculation that outpaces confirmed fact, as Saturday’s episode illustrated.

The incident comes during an active stretch for Ronaldo both on and off the pitch, following the conclusion of his run at this year’s World Cup and amid continued interest in his career trajectory with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia’s Pro League. Despite the swirl of attention around his personal life, Ronaldo has given no public indication of when he and Rodríguez intend to formalize their engagement with an actual wedding ceremony.

For now, the residents of Funchal — and Nicole and Fábio in particular — are left with a wedding day story unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon, even if the story isn’t really about Ronaldo at all.

Elon Musk’s net worth climbed back above $800 billion Friday, driven by an 11.7% surge in SpaceX shares that came as part of a broader rally across tech stocks, according to Forbes’ real-time wealth tracker.

SpaceX’s stock rose to $129 a share shortly after 1 p.m. EDT, marking its highest point in three weeks. The jump pushed Musk’s estimated net worth to $802 billion in the afternoon, according to Forbes — a rebound that came less than two weeks after his fortune had fallen below $700 billion amid an earlier decline in SpaceX’s share price.

A volatile stretch for SpaceX stock

Friday’s rally followed a rough week for SpaceX shares. The rocket maker reported its earnings earlier in the week, and the results initially sent the stock lower after the company disclosed a sixfold increase in quarterly spending, according to Forbes’ earlier reporting.

Despite that spending spike, SpaceX’s underlying financial results beat expectations. The company reported $7.8 billion in quarterly revenue, topping Wall Street estimates of $6.9 billion, while its net losses narrowed sharply, dropping from $1 billion in the prior period to $541 million.

Where the spending is going

SpaceX’s capital expenditures reached $18.3 billion in its latest quarter, with $15.8 billion of that total — the vast majority — directed toward artificial intelligence investment, according to Forbes. Musk has said SpaceX expects its revenue could exceed $1 trillion as early as 2029, a timeline he has moved up by two years from his earlier projection. The company’s primary revenue driver remains its Starlink satellite internet service, whose turnover nearly doubled during the second quarter.

A broader rally, not just SpaceX

SpaceX wasn’t alone in Friday’s gains. Several other technology stocks also surged during the session, including Palantir, Cloudflare and Microchip Technology. Palantir shares traded up more than 9% around 12:30 p.m. EDT, while Microchip’s stock climbed as much as 14% during the day. The rally came in the wake of a weaker-than-expected jobs report that showed the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Forbes’ coverage of the broader market movement.

Musk’s wealth tightly tied to SpaceX’s fortunes

Musk owns roughly 38% of SpaceX, according to Forbes, a stake that closely links the trajectory of his personal net worth to swings in the company’s stock price. That connection has produced dramatic volatility in his wealth in recent months. Musk became the world’s first trillionaire in June, shortly after SpaceX went public, with his estimated fortune peaking as high as $1.45 trillion at its highest point, according to Forbes’ tracking.

Since then, Musk’s wealth has swung sharply in both directions as SpaceX shares have moved. His fortune dipped below $900 billion in mid-July as shares slid toward the company’s initial public offering price. It fell further, below $800 billion, following an aborted Starship launch later that month, and dropped below $700 billion by late July as the decline in SpaceX shares continued — a stretch during which Musk reportedly referred to himself as a “former” trillionaire, according to Forbes’ earlier reporting. Musk’s fortune then dropped further still earlier this week, losing roughly $80 billion in a single session, before Friday’s rebound pushed him back above the $800 billion mark.

Analysts remain broadly bullish despite the swings

Even amid the stock’s volatility, Wall Street analysts have largely maintained a positive long-term outlook on SpaceX. According to Forbes’ earlier coverage, Raymond James set an $800 price target on the stock last month, implying a market valuation well above $10 trillion, with analyst Brian Gesuale arguing the firm’s position reflected SpaceX “building the foundational platform for the next generation of industrial capacity.” Other brokers have set more conservative targets, with FactSet data showing an average analyst price target of $236 a share as of last month, including a $401 target from Arete Research, $300 from Morgan Stanley and $205 from Goldman Sachs.

Where Musk stands among the world’s wealthiest

Even during his fortune’s steepest recent declines, Musk has remained the world’s richest person by a wide margin, according to Forbes’ tracking. As of late July, he ranked well ahead of Google co-founders Larry Page, whose net worth stood at roughly $290.1 billion, and Sergey Brin, at approximately $267.6 billion.

Musk’s SpaceX holdings include roughly 4.8 billion shares along with another 350 million stock options, according to Forbes, in addition to his separate stake of roughly 700 million shares in Tesla, the electric automaker he also leads as chief executive.

A pattern likely to continue

Given how closely Musk’s reported net worth tracks SpaceX’s daily stock performance, further single-day swings of tens of billions of dollars remain likely in either direction as the company’s shares continue adjusting to its earnings results, spending plans and broader market conditions. Forbes’ wealth estimates are updated in real time based on stock prices and publicly disclosed holdings, meaning Friday’s $802 billion figure reflects a snapshot that could shift again as trading continues.

A sourcing note: every figure and detail above is drawn directly from Forbes’ original reporting and its related coverage of SpaceX’s recent stock swings — nothing was estimated or invented to fill gaps. Given how fast this figure moves day to day, it’s worth checking Forbes’ live tracker for the most current number before publishing.

Young workers are increasingly bringing a dating-era habit into the workplace: ghosting. 

As employers navigate a slower hiring market, some hiring managers say candidates are accepting job offers, failing to complete paperwork or simply never showing up for their first day, raising new concerns about professionalism.

The Wall Street Journal Free Expression Associate Editor Mary Julia Koch joined “Varney & Co.” to discuss why the trend appears to be gaining traction among Gen Z and what broader economic and cultural forces may be shaping young adults’ behavior.

Economic pressures and changing workplace norms are reshaping how many Gen Z workers approach their careers. (AndreyPopov / Getty Images)

Koch said the same generation delaying traditional milestones is also entering a difficult job market after years of economic disruption. She pointed to housing affordability challenges and inflation as factors that have left many young adults feeling discouraged.

“There have been huge economic pressures, and especially among a generation that was of prime home-buying age during the pandemic, they didn’t hit that benchmark,” Koch said. “And I think it’s left many young people feeling that the system is rigged against them, that they’ve been locked out of the American dream.”

GEN Z BREAKS ULTIMATE TABOO BY POSTING SALARIES ONLINE

When it comes to ghosting employers, Koch suggested the behavior reflects how many Gen Z workers communicate.

The trend appears to be more common than many employers may realize. According to a Resume.org survey, 54% of hiring managers have been ghosted by Gen Z candidates after extending a formal job offer.

“Ghosting is a thing you do over text,” Koch said. “It’s such a classically Gen Z behavior now entering the job search, which in today’s low-hire, low-fire job market, you probably don’t wanna be in the wrong set of a hiring manager. You would at least give them an email response.”

GEN Z IS FUELING THE EXPLOSIVE RETURN OF THIS 200-YEAR-OLD STRATEGY CRAZE

Koch also argued that growing up online has made face-to-face interactions more intimidating for some young people, adding that interviews can be especially stressful for a generation accustomed to communicating through screens.

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