PHILADELPHIA — The social media pitch to bring LeBron James to Philadelphia was an almost naive one from Joel Embiid.
Event Context
“ @KingJames hey bro hope you’re having a good day…… Want to join us in philly?? Peace,” Embiid wrote.
His recruitment skills were on point and James — the four-time NBA champion and career scoring leader — will join Embiid in a startling turn of events on the Philadelphia 76ers.
Ok, fine, just a short 12 years after the July 1, 2014, post.
The 76ers expect James to be worth the wait and hope he can win an NBA championship in Philadelphia much as he did in his previous three stops in Cleveland, Miami and with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 76ers are used to playing the long game. The franchise hasn’t won an NBA championship since 1983, when Julius Erving still soared and a year before James was born.
James is again chasing a ring and his arrival on a two-year deal for the veterans’ minimum of about $3.9 million per season shook up the Sixers and put the Eastern Conference on notice — yes, even the NBA champion Knicks — that a real championship contender might finally emerge in Philly.
The Sixers earned straight A’s on their summer school report card even before James said he would sign with team.
James turns 42 in December and there are a lot of miles on those legs. James battled injuries last season and played in only 60 games. Embiid has never been reliable with only 57 combined games played the last two seasons, and the Sixers have churned through a slew of imported stars over the last decade — James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Paul George — and still haven’t advanced out of the second round since 2001.
There’s only one ball and a lot of talent that has the resume to command it.
It’s also a big win for front office boss Bob Myers, who openly pitched for James to sign in Philadelphia on his agent’s podcast and won four championships as a Golden State Warriors executive.
The Sixers ended their season with a second-round sweep to Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and the NBA champion Knicks.
The Knicks are still the team to beat. By talent, by virtue of winning it all and, at least out of the East, the betting favorite to again reach the NBA Finals.
The Knicks have largely stayed pat while other hopeful contenders went for major moves.
Much like the Sixers before they acquired Brown, the Heat are a two-star team with Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Antetokounmpo, Adebayo and James would have made them a new Big 3, much like when James won titles in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Toronto is hopeful for a resolution to their held-up trade with the Los Angeles Clippers that should land them Kawhi Leonard. The trade is on hold pending the outcome of the NBA’s investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented salary cap rules.
Player Focus
But with apologies to Wilt Chamberlain, many, many apologies, James becomes the most accomplished player to ever wear a 76ers uniform.
He won’t be alone in that No. 23 uniform — Fanatics sold out almost instantly of his jerseys on Friday.
The Cavaliers would have loved a sentimental third tour with James and have the franchise’s greatest player eventually retire in Cleveland.
James instead left the Cavaliers in a lurch, and they have to hope they can re-sign 36-year-old James Harden as part of a lineup that includes Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell.
There is one major mark he could hit should he send the Sixers on a parade route down Broad Street. He would become the first player to win NBA titles with four teams.
Team Analysis
Certainly not as dominant as he was in his MVP heyday, LeBron James is still, well LeBron James and his addition should lift any team mired in the NBA mucky middle such as the Sixers into contention.
Throw him into in a lineup that includes a league MVP in Embiid, All-Stars Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, and promising second-year standout VJ Edgecombe, and it’s no shock the Sixers moved up few a few pegs Friday on the betting board and into the short list of favorites for an NBA title.
Just not the favorite.
Here they come, team of the year?
The Sixers fired team president Daryl Morey and replaced him with longtime Cleveland executive Mike Gansey, who came out swinging for the fences in his first month on the job. He pulled off the shocker of a trade with Boston that landed them Brown — the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and the league’s fourth-leading scorer this past season.
It’s difficult to fathom that an oft-injured Embiid — who won Olympic gold with James — and Maxey alone would have been enough to coax James to Philadelphia.
But adding a stud like Brown?
Brown surely played a key deciding factor in James’ decision — his “last” one, he says — and now the Sixers boast perhaps the top starting five in the NBA.
And boy, what a bargain.
There are some caveats, of course.
The Heat — hey, when exactly is that presser? — like their chances after they traded with Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP was the latest on a long list of superstar acquisitions made since Pat Riley arrived to take over as team president in 1995.
Match Outlook
They will be projected to finish behind the Knicks and 76ers in the East.
Don’t forget, Detroit won 60 games last season and would like to prove its early playoff exit was a part of the growing pains of a contender.
Look, James’ legacy is set and not even a flameout in Philly is going to change his indelible stamp on the game from the court to the cash register.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse turned 59 on Friday and there’s no better professional gift he could have received than LeBron James.
Purchased on a discount rack.
Look for LeBron on opening night in New York. Look for LeBron on a Christmas game in Philadelphia. Look for LeBron to keep Sixers’ tickets sky high on the secondary market even on nights when Embiid sits.
Look for the ride of a lifetime in Philadelphia where the franchise wants to reach the sky again just like it did with Dr. J.
NBA: /nba
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