The biggest domino of the NBA offseason has finally fallen. LeBron James has made his decision and elected to take his talents to South Philadelphia and sign with the 76ers, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Philadelphia was largely viewed as a dark horse in the LeBron James sweepstakes for most of the lead-up. But this outlook shifted after an eventful offseason for the Sixers, which started with Daryl Morey being fired as President of Basketball Operations and replaced by Bob Myers and Mike Gansey.
Both these new voices proved valuable in the recruitment process. Bob Myers was quick to hop on Rich Paul’s podcast to make a public pitch for why the Sixers offer the best chance for LeBron James to win another championship. Myers also was seated next to Paul at multiple Sixers games last year, with it worth noting that Tyrese Maxey is also represented by Paul and Klutch Sports. Maxey and James also share a trainer, Chris Johnson, founder of JusHoop, and the two have worked out together frequently over the years
Gansey has had a relationship with James dating back to their time together in high school, which stemmed from Gansey finishing as runner-up for the “Mr. Basketball” award in Ohio during his senior year behind James himself. The two have held a mutual respect since, and Gansey was not shy to publicly express his desire to bring James to Philadelphia in recent weeks.
This new-look front office showed that they meant business with their actions by delivering on a shocking move to trade for Jaylen Brown just two months after eliminating the Celtics from the playoffs. For the price of Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks, Philadelphia added the frustrated Celtics star who finished sixth in MVP voting last season with career-best averages of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists.
Brown provided an immediate spark to the Sixers’ outlook with him being seven years younger than George with a much stronger track record of being available. This is especially noteworthy given the availability of Joel Embiid, who has played 39 or fewer games in each of the last three seasons. V.J. Edgecombe had about as impressive a rookie season as could be asked for last year and will look to build off this heading into next season.
The biggest weak spots on the team are ones that can be clearly filled by James’ skill set. Even with him not being the clear top player in the NBA as was the case for most of his career, James is coming off an age-41 season in which he averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds, shining as the best player on the floor during the opening-round playoff win over the Houston Rockets. Add in players like Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade off the bench, and James clearly decided that Philadelphia was the best chance for him to add to his collection of four NBA championships.
The odds on DraftKings Sportsbook also reflect the impact that James’ addition makes. The Sixers held +1100 odds of winning the Eastern Conference entering the day but have since shifted to the second-best odds of winning the conference at +350. They trail only the New York Knicks at +330 odds. Philadelphia is also tied with New York for the best odds to win the NBA Finals of any team in the Eastern Conference at +900. The Thunder and Spurs are the co-favorites at +270 odds.
It is important to be clear that games cannot be won on paper, and it will take plenty of sacrifice from each star player for the roster to be properly maximized. There have been plenty of super teams that have been put together in the past that have failed to produce the level of success they desire. Still, this is about as perfect of an offseason as the Sixers could have imagined, especially considering it felt the window to win was nearly shutting around them.
Philadelphia has failed to reach its championship aspirations and has famously failed to make it past the second round across the Joel Embiid era. But the addition of Brown and James takes plenty of responsibility off of Embiid’s shoulders, with each new addition holding NBA Finals MVP experience that the organization needed. There has been a cultural reset in Philadelphia this offseason – this is a process that should be trusted.
