Two months after LeBron James rocked the basketball world when he announced that we was choosing to join the Philadelphia 76ers, the City of Brotherly Love will finally get to see one of the greatest players in NBA history come to town as the Sixers begin training camp.

Sure we have all seen social media clips of James working out with Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown, but when he finally takes the court at the 76ers facility for practice, that’s when the energy will turn from “Can you believe LeBron is a 76ers player” to “Will LeBron James lead our team to the promised land?”

The resume is undeniable, three straight stops have resulted in NBA Championships for LeBron James. The Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Los Angeles Lakers have to directly credit “King James” for their most recent title banners hanging in their arenas.

LeBron James Speaks About Why He Chose Philadelphia

On the latest edition of the Mind the Game Podcast is subtitled “Why Philadelphia”, and James’ cohost Steve Nash asks questions about the decision to join the 76ers this summer. I have organized my top three takeaways from the podcast:

1. LeBron James’ love and respect for Tyrese Maxey is deeper than people realized:

“First of all, my relationship with Tyrese Maxey goes beyond the court…I just love everything about Tyrese Maxey, man, every day you get the same person, and that is very rare in sports, and obviously super rare in life, and I’ve always talked about how great of a person he is….When I became a free agent, (Maxey) was one of the first people on my line calling me, ‘Yo what we doin’? What’s up OG? What’s up old head? Come on down here, we can use you’ – A lot of times I don’t answer the phone for a lot of phone calls because I don’t want to be swayed or I already know what you are calling about; But he’s such a great person that I can’t not talk to him”.

The relationship that Maxey has with LeBron James, and the James’ family seems to have resonated with the all-time basketball legend so much he could not ignore the phone calls from the Sixers superstar. It’s obvious that Maxey was a major draw for the NBA’s all-time scoring leader.

2. Joel Embiid was a draw as well for LeBron James

“One of the most important (reasons why LeBron chose the 76ers), to be honest, is the big fella – (Joel Embiid) has done everything in our league, and the only thing he has not done is win a championship. And I want to try to help him get that first (championship)….He has everything, he has the city (of Philadelphia) on his back, he’s been ‘The Process’ for 10, 12 years….(but) I think it’s time now to dig even deeper into the process, and I hope I can be that final little piece that can help him get over the hump.”

While both James and his agent, Rich Paul, have said that the Jaylen Brown trade put the Sixers on “King James” radar, we heard reports back in July that LeBron James and Joel Embiid had plenty of conversations before LBJ announced he was coming to Philadelphia.

James and Embiid got to know each other when they played together on the Team USA Olympic Basketball team that won the Gold Medal in 2024. Its not a coincidence that Embiid has lost weight, and looks to be in the best condition of his career the same year that LeBron James says he wants to help Embiid “get over the hump” and win his “first championship”.

3. LeBron James envisions the 76ers as a Championship Caliber Defensive Squad

“The things that I’ve seen with (Nick Nurse) teams in the past, especially the (Toronto) Raptors team that won a championship, (defensively) that got up into you, they got into the passing lane…there was a lot of high IQ guys who were able to do that, and I am looking forward to seeing if we can kind of translate a little bit of that (in Philadelphia) because we have the speed, we have the athleticism, now its about do we have the discipline to actually be able to take that (onto) the defensive end, and hold each other accountable too….You gotta force guys into contested (two point shots), try not to give up straight-line drives (to the basket), don’t give up corner three, and then we gotta rebound. You know, as fast and as athletic as we can be, we can’t do s**t unless we get the rebounds.”

If you pay attention to what LeBron James was saying on the podcast, 76ers Head Coach Nick Nurse’s background coaching the Toronto Raptors is something that stands out to LBJ. Nurse utilized a Raptors roster that was a perfect blend of young players and veterans to guide them to the franchise’s only NBA Championship.

James’ vision for the 76ers is not a fantasy, but based on the reality that both Jaylen Brown and VJ Edgecombe have the physical tools to match up defensively with every wing scorer in the NBA. While Maxey isn’t an elite defensive player, he has shown the effort over the last couple of years that allows you to believe he is not a liability on that side of the ball.

The real question is how will Embiid and James function together on the defensive end together. That Raptors championship team had forwards and centers who were interchangeable defensively with Pascal Siakam, Serge Ibaka, and Marc Gasol. It will be interesting to see how Adem Bona, Dean Wade, and other big men play into the 76ers defense along with Embiid and James.

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