One of the more polarizing players in NBA history is also one of the offseason’s bargain-basement deals as LeBron James took his talents somewhere new last week.
James is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and the opinions of his free-agent deal arrived in a blur. The bulk of the conjecture seems to center on there not being enough basketballs for all the players on the 76ers’ roster who will want to get their hands the one that is available.
If there is one thing basketball fans seem adept at, it is giving their opinion on James’ business.
Ranking James behind Michael Jordan on the imaginary list of best players of all time seems to be an equal part Jordan compliment as it is a James condemnation.
Watching James pass the ball to a wide-open teammate in the closing seconds earns scorn. Seeing James miss the final shot in a close game is somehow proof he is a fraud.
So the idea that James is headed to “The City of Brotherly Love” and expected to cause a family feud is so predictable.
Every move somehow has a deeper meaning. Every statement gets twisted. If James is doing that, this is what it really means.
A popular take is that the move to Philadelphia came about because James is such an alpha male that he wanted out of his Los Angeles Lakers partnership with another one in Luka Doncic.
The reality is that James is going to a team with more of them in Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey. Then there is the high ceiling of VJ Edgecombe, who promises to be a pack leader himself one day.
Perhaps none of them rank as the kind of pure scorer and ball distributor that Doncic has become. But the idea that James found a talented team where he will now take charge is preposterous.
James is good friends with Maxey, was personally recruited by Embiid, according to reports, and knows exactly what Brown is all about. As for Edgecombe, he might be in the most beneficial spot of all.
The Lakers’ Austin Reaves came into his own with James at his side to become an unlikely NBA star. Reaves went undrafted out of college and was averaging at least 20 points with nearly six assists by his age 26 season.
Edgecombe has a massive head start on Reaves as a third overall draft pick, who finished third in Rookie of the Year voting last season. James could help his growth even more, assuming the ball makes its way around the perimeter on a nightly basis.
Does James need the ball to make this work? Absolutely.
Does he need to score 20 points per game? Hardly.
If there is a James skill that will serve the Sixers best, it is with ball-distribution abilities. Maxey is the unquestioned point guard of the group, but James’ ability to find open teammates is a proven skill.
And James is ready to show the entire package at just $3.9 million in 2026-27 and a shade over $4 million in 2027-28. Adding James on a veteran minimum salary is what had suitors like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat so disappointed he chose to go elsewhere.
Yes, James’ teams transitions over the years have been somewhat messy, but that’s what comes with the territory when an all-time great is available. The initial move to Miami was clunky at best.
This time around, the Heat seemed especially irked at a failed reunion, while not getting a chance to pair James with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Warriors’ Stephen Curry accepted his team’s fate by claiming he didn’t imagine what a team in the Bay Area would like with James running the floor with the group. It sounds a bit far-fetched, but we’ll take Curry at his word.
To make it all work for whatever team James picked will be a run of good health, all as James turns 42 in December. And then there is the injury history of Embiid that will have to improve for the Sixers to build on all this optimism.
James has played 70 games of an 82-game season just twice in the past eight campaigns. He played 60 games last season as the old-man jokes were flying when he opened the schedule on the bench with sciatica.
That James’ move to a contender has eyes rolling is far from a surprise. He has a way of striking a nerve, and when he seems to not care about anybody’s opinion, it only exacerbates that energy.
From this vantagepoint, anything less than the Eastern Conference finals would seem like a disappointment for the Sixers. Fans in Philadelphia are certainly aiming higher.
One thing that is sure is that Sixers games will now take on a must-see element all around the league.
