September 25, 2026
Welcome to PhillyVoice's series of Sixers player previews ahead of the 2026-27 season.
After two years of volatility, Sixers fans entered this offseason teetering on apathy. Then came new Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey, the architect of what became a dream summer. Gansey traded Paul George away, landing five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics. As Gansey accumulated depth around Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, the door opened for an unfathomable addition.
LeBron James is a member of the Sixers, rounding out one of the most talented starting lineups in recent NBA history. And suddenly, the Sixers have cultivated more local and national interest than ever before. Games are not won on paper, but the Sixers are built to be full-blown championship contenders for however long James remains in Philadelphia.
As Sixers Media Day on Sep. 28 nears, our player preview series will focus on two key questions surrounding each member of the team's 14-player standard roster.
Up last: LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer whose decision to end his legendary career in Philadelphia still does not quite feel real. But on Monday, James will sit at a podium at the team's practice facility in Camden and field questions about his fit with the Sixers. James signed a veteran's minimum contract and invited a lot of pressure by joining this team. Will it be worthwhile?
SIXERS PLAYER PREVIEWS
Joel Embiid | Labaron Philon Jr. | Dean Wade | Dominick Barlow | Adem Bona
Tyrese Maxey | VJ Edgecombe | Jaylen Brown | Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Ariel Hukporti | Anfernee Simons | Jabari Walker | Justin Edwards | LeBron James
In the days following James' decision to join the Sixers, word emerged that the plan was for him to be the team's point guard. That is unsurprising in multiple respects.
Given the makeup of this roster, James functioning as a table-setter makes the most sense – at least within this starting lineup. His scoring as a downhill driver is less of a necessity with Maxey, Brown and Embiid on board and he is far and away the best passer on the team. But it is also unsurprising in that, out of his 23 NBA seasons, James has basically been a point guard in 22 of them.
Playing with Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves for a full season in 2025-26 changed things, but James' fit on this roster is clearly as a facilitator first and a scorer second.
When the 2025-26 Sixers were eliminated from the playoffs, Maxey spoke honestly about wanting to get off the ball more often. He should: He is among the best off-ball guards in the entire NBA, and because of the rosters he has been on he has been forced to handle one of the heavier on-ball workloads in the league. Not only will James' historic drive-and-kick skills enable Maxey to flash his incredible accuracy on catch-and-shoot tries, but he will also empower Maxey to run around screens and take daring shots on the move.
James and Maxey will work magic screening for each other, too, but Maxey is not the only player on this team ready to take advantage of James' playmaking. Maxey, Edgecombe and Brown all figure to benefit tremendously from running with James in transition; James did not surpass 12,000 career assists last season by being unwilling to share the ball in the open floor.
After leading the search process which landed on Gansey, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment President of Sports Bob Myers said that the Sixers had to "find an identity," and as currently constructed they "just [did not] have one."
"That's maybe a harsh thing to say," Myers said, "but look at the numbers: We were not elite offensively or defensively."
Now, the Sixers can have a real calling card: James, arguably the best transition player of all time, will be the quarterback of what projects to be the best transition offense in the NBA. There is more to be figured out, but the Sixers have the makings of an identity.
SIXERS FILM STUDIES
Jaylen Brown's strengths | Jaylen Brown's weaknesses
Anfernee Simons | Dean Wade | Ariel Hukporti
When James starts games alongside Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown and Embiid, he will likely be focused on setting his teammates up for easy baskets. But the first time he checks out of the game and then returns, he will probably be playing with two or three low-usage reserves. That is when he, like each of his fellow starters, will have to be a chameleon of sorts.
If there is any player on this team suited to shift their role from stint to stint within a game, it is probably James, whose feel for the game, positional size and decades of experience cut him out for this sort of thing.
His final season with the Los Angeles Lakers was a masterclass in being a basketball chameleon: James constantly adapted to the capabilities and availability of Dončić and Reaves, making himself into a dominant third option when the two guards got hot at the same time and then suddenly transforming back into a lead man when they both got hurt at the same time.
Presumably, James would not have signed up to play on this team, as part of this roster, had he not felt prepared for this sort of basketball lifestyle. Can his new teammates do the same?
If fast-paced, open-floor offense becomes the Sixers' identity, their superpower will be their ability to keep multiple high-level scorers on the floor at all times. Staggering stars will be a vital component of Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's job this season, and that means everybody will have to learn to roll with the punches as roles fluctuate from moment to moment.
Sometimes Embiid will be a dominant scorer with an enormous usage rate; other times he will be a decoy. Brown will occasionally get to play his ball-dominant style, but will have to find ways to contribute offensively outside of creating shots for himself. Maxey will play on and off the ball, and so will Edgecombe.
James is arguably the greatest player in the history of the NBA. On a team that must receive major concessions from some of the NBA's brightest stars, the soon-to-be 42-year-old has the opportunity to set a tone of sacrifice. If James and his teammates can function as basketball chameleons, this group can be special.
SIXERS SIGN LEBRON JAMES
James' decision | Projecting Sixers' rotation | James' impact, on and off the court
