It was quite a sight to behold on Thursday night: Joel Embiid set a screen for LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, and rolled to the rim. James drew a pair of defenders and threw a crisp bounce pass to Embiid. A defender stepped up to challenge Embiid, who wrapped his arm around them to dish out a one-handed pass to five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown. It resulted in an uncontested dunk.

That specific read has become typical for Embiid in recent years; his short-roll passes have improved and become more frequent. But not since the days of Jimmy Butler has Embiid played with a wing-sized pick-and-roll ball-handler of James' ilk. Embiid has made those quick passes to players like Kelly Oubre Jr., Guerschon Yabusele, Dominick Barlow and KJ Martin in recent years. After nearly a decade of the two players being rivals, it remains challenging to process that Embiid will now be looking for Brown in those situations.

While Embiid is used to plays like those, it is not exactly commonplace for Brown. When the Sixers' star-studded starting lineup made its debut on Thursday, Brown spent plenty of time lurking around the basket in the dunker spot. Operating in that area of the floor is "not something I'm not familiar with," Brown said on Thursday night, but there is no doubt it will be an adjustment.

Kicking off the final full week of preseason with 5 Sixers thoughts, beginning with the first look at Brown's offensive fit within the starting unit:

Can Jaylen Brown thrive in the dunker spot?

With Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James, VJ Edgecombe and Brown all on the floor at the same time, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has so many high-level offensive options at his disposal at once that it could almost be paralyzing. But in many ways, Brown is the most intriguing piece of that puzzle. He is one of the most reliable drivers of self-created offensive volume in the entire NBA, but has not established as many bread-and-butter scoring methods as his new teammates.

The first step Nurse is taking as he tries to flesh out the five-time All-Star's role within the starting unit: Brown playing out of the dunker spot some. The vision was clear here:

While Brown has not operated out of the dunker spot on a consistent basis in his NBA career, he was not intimidated by the idea.

"I’ve played a lot of different spots my whole career," Brown said. "So, not something I'm unfamiliar with. I feel like at this point in my career, I can play from any position anywhere at any given time and be effective. So dunker is not something I'm not familiar with."

MORE: Before trade, Brown went to Morocco with two soon-to-be Sixers teammates

Oubre was particularly effective in this sort of offensive role during his final year with the Sixers, timing his cuts and bursts from the dunker spot in accordance with Embiid's preferences. Brown and Embiid getting on the same page will go a long way; there were hits and misses on Thursday night as Embiid turned in a sloppy performance.

"It’s early," Brown said, "so we've still got to figure some stuff out in terms of spacing – kind of what we're looking for – but it'll be an ongoing communication. I'm sure of that."

Dean Wade receives plenty of praise

"He fits on any basketball team on the planet," James said of Dean Wade after making his preseason debut on Thursday. "Got to have guys like that in order to win."

James is right. Wade offers Nurse as much lineup and positional flexibility as anyone on this roster; he can guard at least four positions (the Sixers are now doing their homework to find out if he can defend at all five spots) and never needs a play called for him. He is a quality spot-up three-point shooter and self-aware enough to know that if a shot does not immediately present itself for him, he should keep it moving.

On a team full of high-level advantage creators, Wade should see more open spot-up threes than ever before. Maxey said after the Sixers' second official practice last month that he is going to be encouraging Wade to shoot as often as possible.

On a team full of high-level advantage creators, Wade should see more open spot-up threes than ever before. Maxey said after the Sixers' second official practice last month that he is going to be encouraging Wade to shoot as often as possible, praising the 29-year-old's all-around game:

"I love Dean Wade. I love Dean Wade. Great teammate, I can tell already. He’s a funny guy. Stand-up guy. But he’s also somebody who knows how to play a role, and he knows how to star in his role, too. He doesn’t deviate. [I'm going to] be on him this year about shooting the ball. I want him to shoot a lot of threes. He can shoot the ball. He can defend. He’s picking up the ball here, rebounding, cutting. He’s doing a lot. And I didn’t know he was this tall. You play against a guy two or three times a year, but you don’t really realize until you’re seeing somebody every day, he’s tall. He’s really tall. I think he’s going to really help us on the defensive glass – defensively, period. And then just creating space and cutting. He’s a great teammate, too. We need great teammates around right now."

"I love Dean," Brown said on Thursday. "A high-character guy. He does a lot of the little stuff. He's going to be big for us all season long."

MORE: Brown sits in Boston, but Sixers battle Paul George in preseason blowout

Labaron Philon Jr. stock watch

After rookie guard Labaron Philon Jr. shot 2-for-9 from the field in his first NBA preseason game, Nurse projected optimism. He liked the way Philon played, he said, and this basket was a prime example of the sort of individual shot creation Nurse had been raving about Philon being able to provide:

In Saturday's blowout loss to Boston, the complete picture started to come together for Philon, whose shooting off the catch was joined by much better play coming off of ball screens.

"Some of the guys tried to get under the screens, so just being ready to shoot," Philon said on Monday when asked how he would prepare for defensive coverages moving forward. "And then, I would say, with the other coverages, switching high, being able to attack immediately... Just being able to recognize it and try to see what guys’ tactics are and the scouting report is, just to get a feel of that, it was kind of good. I got some different looks, so just being able to watch the film and go back and try to correct things, I feel like that’ll be a good thing for me."

MORE: Will Philon be traded before deadline?

Blue Week

The Sixers announced their upcoming "Blue Week," a series of promotional fan events ahead of the beginning of the 2026-27 season:

Checking in on old friends

A quick batch of notes on a few former Sixers:

• The Sixers faced off against Paul George in his Celtics preseason debut on Saturday; the nine-time All-Star racked up five steals and shook off a slow shooting start to eventually get going. Before and after the game, George exchanged handshakes with former teammates. His two-year tenure in Philadelphia has to be viewed as a disappointment in a vacuum, but his terrific resurgence a season ago was what prompted the Sixers' transformational offseason. Had George not outplayed Brown and Jayson Tatum in the first round of the playoffs, the Sixers would probably not have Brown or James on their team right now.

• Ben Simmons made his preseason debut for the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night; it was his first NBA game since the end of the 2024-25 campaign he finished with the Los Angeles Clippers. Simmons started and played eight first-quarter minutes, scoring seven points. He shot 3-for-4 on free throws and knocked down a short mid-range jumper. Simmons signed a veteran's minimum contract that guarantees $1 million if he makes Sacramento's opening-night roster, with the rest of the money guaranteed on Jan. 10. Maxime Raynaud, set to be a critical piece of Sacramento's frontcourt rotation, suffered a knee injury, which could lead to more opportunities for Simmons, now 30 years old.

• Just seven picks before the Kings took a future All-Rookie honoree in Raynaud, the Sixers drafted a big whose tenure with the team only lasted one year. The Sixers gave up a second-round pick to dump Johni Broome this summer, barely a year removed from picking him at No. 35 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. Despite having a guaranteed salary, Broome was waived by the Clippers following the trade. Broome has signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Milwaukee Bucks; he could be in contention for their vacant two-way contract spot.

MORE: LeBron cements himself as the Sixers' quarterback in preseason debut