LeBron James is a Sixer and the team’s 2026-27 schedule should be here soon.
With the fireworks finally in the rearview mirror, here are nine thoughts on the Sixers’ offseason:
1. The Sixers haven’t earned 50 regular-season victories since Doc Rivers’ tenure as head coach. The 2026-27 team looks capable of hitting 50. The Sixers should care about racking up wins, too. Every day of playoff rest will matter for a team featuring James and Joel Embiid. James will be 42 years old by the time the postseason rolls around, Embiid 33 and with an injury-cursed past. No deep playoff run is effortless, but the Sixers will aim for the smoothest possible road.
2. The Sixers should pose major physical problems to just about every opponent. Embiid, Jaylen Brown and James are all well-versed at targeting defenders who can’t cope with their size and strength. Tyrese Maxey’s speed is a world-class tool. Offensive rhythm and balance sounds nice, but the Sixers’ smartest option will sometimes be as simple as tossing the ball to whoever has the best chance of beating his man 1-on-1. James should enhance their ability to identity those mismatches and exploit them over and over again.
3. With James on board, it’s so much easier to envision Maxey benefiting from greater offensive variety. Even if he remains the Sixers’ primary ball handler and continues to see heaps of pick-and-roll blitzes, there’s no question Maxey should have a lighter on-ball load. Cleaning the Glass classified Maxey as playing 100 percent of his minutes at point guard each of the last three seasons.
“This series was definitely tough for me,” Maxey said at his May exit interview after the Sixers were swept out of the playoffs by the Knicks. “They made it tough on me. I can’t even sit here and lie. I saw multiple bodies every single night. Every single pick-and-roll, it was a trap. Every single (Jalen) Brunson action, it was a trap. Every single time I got downhill, the entire team was in the paint and I was trying to kick out. … Next year I want to do some things off the ball and just not have to be in front of the defense all the time.
“When you’re in front of the defense all the time, it gives them opportunities to trap me a lot. It gives the entire team opportunities to kind of load up. I feel like that’s one thing that really good players and great players can do. They can be on the ball and make plays on the ball, but they can also be off the ball and contribute that way, use their gravity that way.”
4. In a strange way, Embiid and Maxey are uniquely equipped to adjust to all the day-to-day buzz that comes with James. They’ve each endured true sagas as Sixers — Markelle Fultz’s damaged shot; Ben Simmons and James Harden’s trade requests; health woes ranging from Bell’s palsy to appendicitis. James will bring a different sort of spotlight. However, strictly in terms of riding the season’s rollercoaster and handling intense moments, Embiid and Maxey should be relatively unfazed.
5. Mike Gansey’s outlandishly productive first summer as the Sixers’ president of basketball operations is hard to fully fathom. Jameer Nelson has also made a substantial impact this offseason.
The Sixers promoted Nelson to executive vice president of basketball operations in June. Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul named him as an “X-factor” when discussing the Sixers as a potential landing spot for James on the “Game Over” podcast. And when new Sixers guard Anfernee Simons explained why he’d chosen Philadelphia, he mentioned that the team’s recruitment included Nelson calling … his parents.
“I think it’s showing his level of seriousness in trying to get me to come to Philly,” Simons said in a July press conference on Zoom. “That’s one thing other teams didn’t do. That was one of the big selling points with me coming to Philly and feeling like I’m needed here and wanted here. That helped the pitch out pretty good for sure.”
6. The Sixers will surely fall short of expectations in certain areas. Even if James thrives and his fellow stars stay healthy, the Sixers might underwhelm defensively or struggle to rebound at an adequate level. We still think it’s safe to project that the Sixers will be great at drawing free throws. After finishing last season sixth in free throw rate, they may very well lead the league in that category. James and Brown combined to shoot 12.8 free throws per game last year.
7. Before all of his summer dealmaking, Gansey emphasized “internal development” as a core part of the Sixers’ plans.
“With Tyrese, VJ (Edgecombe) and some of our other young guys, they’ve got to get better, too,” Gansey said at his introductory press conference. “I think it’s internal growth, (the 22nd pick), free agency, and trying to add as much depth as we can to this roster.”
Offseason work hasn’t suddenly become irrelevant for the Sixers. Can Maxey improve even more as a long-range shooter, pick-and-roll passer and do-it all guard? What kind of offensive progress will Edgecombe make ahead of Year 2 in the NBA? Could a young role player like Dominick Barlow enter the season with sharpened skills and establish himself as a valuable, dependable piece on a star-heavy team?
8. The Sixers went 21-23 last regular season without Embiid and 1-3 in the playoffs. He expects to have a healthier season and everyone associated with the Sixers hopes his luck finally turns. Regardless, there still appear to be valid reasons for concern about the Sixers when their seven-time All-Star center is out. The 23-year-old Adem Bona and 24-year-old Ariel Hukporti are right behind Embiid on the Sixers’ depth chart. Both Bona and Hukporti have two years of NBA experience and, to this point, they’ve been foul-prone, offensively limited players. The Sixers do have others capable of sliding up to center on occasion, including James, Barlow and Dean Wade, but picking up another big man during the season might make sense.
9. With three hefty salaries on their books in Embiid, Brown and Maxey, the Sixers will need some bargain players. James is an obvious candidate; he’ll play on a minimum salary of approximately $3.9 million. He’s not the only one, though. After starting 59 games last season, Barlow is set to make $3.4 million. Edgecombe ($11.7 million), Simons ($6 million) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($3.9 million) are among the other contenders.