August 11, 2026
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Can LeBron James lead the Sixers to a championship?
At some point early on in the 2026-27 season – probably in October – LeBron James will, for the first time in a Sixers uniform, emerge with the ball in transition and throw down a powerful one-handed dunk.
Whenever that happens, James' signature slam will ignite a buzz that is one of a kind in the NBA.
James is the league's all-time leading scorer, and over the course of his first 23 years in the league he has thrown down thousands of dunks. Sometimes he gets a runway to build anticipation, sometimes he must suddenly rise up and muster a slam over the contest of a defender. But they all count the same, and they will be valuable to a Sixers team that does not have many frequent dunkers.
In this week's Sixers mailbag, diving into the specific value of James' dunking ability and ranking the team's reserves by minutes played in 2026-27:
From @vivotranquil0.bsky.social: Where did we finish in dunks last year and how many dunks did Jaylen Brown and LeBron James have last year? Can you extrapolate where you think we will finish in dunks this year? I feel like we always finish near the bottom of the league in this regard.
This is a great question that speaks to one of the Sixers' flaws in recent years. The Sixers made 372 dunks last season, 23rd among NBA teams, and it actually feels like a better ranking than expected.
As silly as it sounds, this matters quite a bit. Dunks are just about guaranteed baskets, and the Sixers have not secured enough of those over the last few seasons.
Adem Bona led last year's Sixers with 69 dunks; Dominick Barlow barely trailed him at 67 and VJ Edgecombe followed them up at 58. But the team leaned on a lot of players without many dunks. On Dec. 23, it was a major moment for the Sixers when a 6-foot-8 nine-time All-Star threw down his first dunk of the season:
Paul George's first dunk of the 2025-26 season: pic.twitter.com/Eyo0iivpAK
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 24, 2025
Times have changed. Even while only playing 60 games in 2025-26, James threw down 97 dunks – tied for 23rd-most in the NBA. The only non-bigs with more dunks than James last season: Amen Thompson, Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby and Trey Murphy III, all players logging considerably more minutes than James. He can get to the rim at will given his blend of strength and speed, and even now very few players can jump with James.
Jaylen Brown, for all of his memorable poster dunks in 10 NBA seasons – including a nasty one over Bona in the playoffs – only had 32 dunks last year, perhaps in part a product of his expanded scoring responsibilities that included a reliance on shot-making. Brown averaged 60.7 dunks per season over the previous three seasons; that sort of frequency would have had him among the Sixers' most prolific dunkers last year.
The Jaylen Brown dunk clinic was electric tonight pic.twitter.com/gxQUWQazFt
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) December 16, 2023
The Sixers will still field a rotation featuring many dunk-averse players – Tyrese Maxey's dunks are somewhat rare, Joel Embiid is mostly ground-bound these days, neither of Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade will provide many slams off the bench – so this team should not be expected to lead the NBA in dunks.
But between James' constant rim pressure, Brown's role normalizing to some degree and the fact that all parties involved should have more chances to capitalize on each other's gravity, this is a team better suited to get hands on the rim.
The ultimate variable in all of this is Embiid. After averaging 93.0 dunks per 82 games over the first seven years of his active playing career, Embiid has only logged 30.8 dunks per 82 games over the last three seasons. Naturally, facilitators like James and attention-drawing scorers like Brown create more chances for him to throw down dunks. But if the Sixers' professed optimism about Embiid's current condition proves to be justified, there is even more room for the former NBA MVP to have a consistent presence as an in-game dunker.
SIXERS SIGN LEBRON JAMES
James' decision | Projecting Sixers' rotation | James' impact, on and off the court
From @rjankowich.bsky.social: Rank the bench players in terms of minutes played this coming season.
| Ranking | Player |
| 1 | Dean Wade |
| 2 | Anfernee Simons |
| 3 | Adem Bona |
| 4 | Ariel Hukporti |
| 5 | Dominick Barlow |
| 6 | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope |
| 7 | Justin Edwards |
| 8 | Labaron Philon Jr. |
| 9 | Jabari Walker |
The obvious frontrunner here is Dean Wade, signed to a four-year contract worth up to $38.7 million (with $30 million guaranteed) to start in between Brown and Embiid. Then James decided to join the Sixers, which set Wade up to fill an ideal role: he will be a super-sub of sorts, a sixth man capable of sliding into any spot of the team's projected starting lineup.
Of Jalen Brunson's 78 field goal attempts during the Eastern Conference Finals, only 14 came against Dean Wade. Some of Wade's one-on-one stops against the eventual NBA Finals MVP: pic.twitter.com/hHtmgn5Pfn
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) July 16, 2026
Wade is an additive two-way player capable of impacting winning without ever playing on the ball; as the Sixers figure out their fit with so many ball-dominant players, Wade's ability to stay off of the ball at all times will be hugely valuable. The argument against Wade would not be rooted in a basketball-centric rationale, but in his history as an injury-prone player. The basketball argument is firmly on his side, though.
Anfernee Simons has a much greater track record than any other member of this bench, but every team led by Sixers head coach Nick Nurse will lean heavily on Maxey and Edgecombe. And even if one of those players suffers an injury, inserting Wade or another player with superior size will seem more prudent than starting Simons, a weak defender whose ball-handling skills would still not be needed to a major degree. But he is arguably the best shooter on this entire roster and the only definitively playable guard available on the bench.
Anfernee Simons has typically functioned as an on-ball player shooting lots of pull-up three-pointers, but he can also spot up from well beyond the arc: pic.twitter.com/TDlkVvffOT
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) July 5, 2026
Backup centers Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti will not be as important as Dominick Barlow on a night Embiid is available to log his usual workload, but Embiid will have enough absences that both bigs will log plenty of minutes. Some may scoff at Barlow being ranked ahead of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but the veteran role player is coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons. Barlow is entering his age-23 season, eager to build on his breakout campaign a year ago.
It is easier to imagine Jabari Walker impacting this team with his rebounding and physicality than rookie Labaron Philon Jr. being so impressive as a ball-handler that he earns consistent minutes, but the Sixers have continually maintained that Philon has the ability to provide an offensive spark right away, hence his higher ranking. Given Nurse's obvious belief in Justin Edwards, it stands to reason the hometown product will have chances to contribute, particularly when James or Wade is sidelined.
Ultimately, that every Sixers reserve has a theoretical pathway to being valuable on this team speaks to just how much the organization's depth has improved this summer. That is the impact of adding a four-time NBA MVP on a veteran's minimum contract.
SIXERS FILM STUDIES
Jaylen Brown's strengths | Jaylen Brown's weaknesses
Anfernee Simons | Dean Wade | Ariel Hukporti
