PHILADELPHIA – "This is a special, special day to be a 76er," Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey said on Thursday as he stood in front of a backdrop at a West Philadelphia recreation center, moments after Jaylen Brown was officially introduced as a member of the Sixers. "I'm very, very excited."

How could he not be? Gansey's very first transaction cycle as a lead executive in the NBA is winding down, and all he did was acquire a five-time All-Star in Brown, then use that trade to kick the door down on the free agency of LeBron James, the league's all-time leading scorer whose final chapter will be in Philadelphia.

Thursday marked Gansey's first group media availability since the 2026 NBA Draft, and a whole lot has happened since he drafted Labaron Philon Jr. at No. 22 overall.

Beginning the week with 5 Sixers thoughts, focused on a slew of Gansey's comments:

Jaylen Brown trade

The Sixers, Gansey described, were never exactly certain that they had a strong chance as the Boston Celtics surveyed the trade market percolating around Brown. "We just kept at it," he said. But as teams around the league worried about his massive contract – three years and more than $60 million annually – the Sixers had a unique opportunity.

Brown's onerous deal was less of a red flag for the Sixers, because in order to land Brown they would have to trade Paul George, owed about $110 million over the next two seasons.

"They got Paul," Gansey pointed out as he defended Boston's side of the blockbuster deal, and that speaks to the luck the Sixers encountered here: to most teams in the league, George was an overpaid albatross. To the Celtics, however, George was a nine-time All-Star capable of slotting into Brown's place in the lineup, serving as an impactful two-way wing and playing with a shorter-term financial commitment than Brown.

"It's just crazy in this NBA, you don't know what's going to happen," Gansey said. "I'm just going to pick up the phone, I'm going to try and get involved in everything I possibly can and see what's out there and be aggressive and creative."

Gansey certainly did that to land Brown. The hand he entered his first offseason with was not perfect, but he played his cards well enough to land the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. Without that, he would not have been able to make one more splash.

MORE: After 'crazy transition,' Jaylen Brown ready to win with Sixers

LeBron James signing

Gansey has repeatedly maintained – as has Rich Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports – that James would not have considered the Sixers in his high-profile free agency had the team not swung the deal to acquire Brown. It is not all about Brown specifically – James is very close with Tyrese Maxey and reportedly talked to Maxey and Joel Embiid frequently as he pondered his options – but it is clear that Gansey's first big swing had a major impact on James.

"After the Jaylen thing, it – I don't want to say it got real, but at least we had a chance to be in the mix," Gansey said, "and that's really all we needed. And we're very fortunate that he picked us."

Echoing the earlier sentiment of Brown, urging everybody to "slow down" until the Sixers' star-studded roster gets on the floor, Gansey issued a reminder that this team is 0-0 with a lot of work ahead. But even the Brown trade did not set the Sixers up to contend for a championship in a loaded Eastern Conference. With James on board, winning a title is the goal. Time will tell whether or not they can pull it off, but the Sixers absolutely have the requisite talent to do so.

"It's crazy," Gansey said. "We have two Finals MVPs and two regular-season MVPs."

James, of course, has won both of those awards... four times each.

Joel Embiid's health

James' most recent NBA MVP trophy was designed in 2013. A decade later, Embiid won the award. And, even with all of the talent Gansey has collected this summer, it is hard to envision this Sixers team reaching the greatest of heights without Embiid being at his best. As he showed during last year's playoffs, his dominance can flip a series on its head – and if he is not right, neither are the Sixers.

Embiid is one of eight players the Sixers had in their Camden practice facility last week. After weeks of posting about things not related to his job on social media – while fans keep waiting for him to acknowledge the Brown and James acquisitions – Embiid posted pictures of himself working out on the team's practice floor, looking noticeably slim:

Since their playoff elimination at the hands of the New York Knicks in May, the Sixers have spoken optimistically about the value of Embiid finally entering an offseason without a lingering injury. What is Embiid doing now to get himself in the best shape possible?

"He's just been himself, man," Gansey said. "I mean, I remember when I got the job, I went over there and he's like, 'I want to have a great year. I want to play a lot of games and I want to be back to All-NBA Joel.' He's talked the talk and now he's walking the walk. He's lost some weight, you saw the pictures. He's been in the gym. He's been lifting. So he's doing all the right things and he's super motivated and we're very, very excited."

SIXERS FILM STUDIES

Jaylen Brown's strengths | Jaylen Brown's weaknesses

Anfernee Simons | Dean Wade | Ariel Hukporti

Accumulating depth

Gansey's eight-minute availability was not singularly focused on the star talent atop the roster he assembled. This was also his first availability since signing Dean Wade – initially as a starting power forward, now as a super-sub of sorts off the bench – as well as veteran sharpshooting guard Anfernee Simons and young reserve center Ariel Hukporti.

"We kind of have a big five," Gansey said. "But it's just exciting just because we have so much talent, but our depth – getting Anfernee Simons, Dean Wade, getting Hukporti, along with [Dominick] Barlow, LaBaron in the draft. I'm just really excited to kind of see how it looks, the combinations, the lineups, the versatility we have. And it's just – when you have the talent, it's exciting, and trying to figure it out is the hard part."

The Sixers have five surefire starters. Wade and Simons are high-caliber bench pieces. Then comes the real competition.

After a breakout season last year in which he started 59 games, Barlow has a chance to take another leap. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is coming off back-to-back down seasons, but has made a long and successful career out of fitting into star-laden rosters. The Sixers have been adamant that Philon could be an impactful rookie. Barlow may have the best rotation case of any holdover reserves on this roster, but from the shot-blocking Adem Bona to the rebounding Jabari Walker to the two-way wing presence in Justin Edwards, there are other players with utility:

"We've got to have depth," Gansey recalled thinking as free agency began. "We need a bench."

Time will tell how strong his bench is – and there are avenues for midseason improvement – but the Sixers have clearly devoted much more energy to their back-end roster spots this summer than they had in recent years.

MORE: On top of star-studded lineup, Sixers finally valuing back-end roster spots

"Championship experience"

James is a four-time NBA champion. Caldwell-Pope has two rings. Brown won Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals MVP in 2024. The Sixers have so many players with championship experience that Gansey did not even remember to mention Hukporti's presence on last year's title-winning Knicks team.

Ultimately, Gansey believes the Sixers will benefit from having quite a few players with experience getting to the place this team wants to reach. And, Gansey pointed out, the team will be led by a head coach with similar experience.

"Just watching LeBron play every day [in Cleveland], and I haven't seen Jaylen like that, but just kind of getting to know him a little but, he's an everyday guy," Gansey said. "Obviously there is going to be a lot of highs and lows throughout the season, but having those two... and even Nick [Nurse], people forget Nick won a championship in Toronto, so he's been through all the wars. He's been through the big games." 

SIXERS SIGN LEBRON JAMES

James' decision | Projecting Sixers' rotation | James' impact, on and off the court