The content-creating world’s long international nightmare is over: LeBron James has chosen his new team. And, in a move that will bring no small consternation to fans in Northeast Ohio and Biscayne Bay, he has indeed chosen a new team.
The leading scorer in NBA history is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, agreeing to terms on a two-year, $8 million contract to line up alongside Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, fellow new arrival Jaylen Brown and rising sophomore VJ Edgecombe in the City of Brotherly Love. (What percentage of the Sixers’ salary cap figure will James account for? Just over 2.3%, for No. 23. There are no coincidences.)
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The reverberations from this one will be felt far and wide; let’s start getting our arms around it all.
What follows is a stab at a first draft of history — a thumbnail sketch of who and what seems to have been helped and hurt by Friday’s blockbuster announcement. We begin with the man himself:
WINNER: LeBron James
After spending most of the 16 months between the Luka Dončić trade and the end of the 2025-26 NBA season wrangling with the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers not only no longer revolved around him, but were prepared to move on from him come the end of his contract, James informed the world he wouldn’t be returning to L.A. and that he intended to continue his career elsewhere. (A “you can’t fire me because I quit” move? Perhaps!) He then proceeded to hold the attention of the basketball-watching world in the palm of his hand for weeks, sparking countless discussions about on-court fits and off-court narratives, about history and legacy …
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… and, crucially, about just how good, valuable and important a player he still is, even with more than 1,900 NBA games and 73,000 minutes on his odometer.
He got a handful of teams to throw bouquets at his feet, to vie for his favor. He got a multi-year deal that could pay him millions through age 43, through his 25th season, an unthinkable career that now just keeps going. And he got to come back to the Eastern Conference he once dominated, to join a team with young talent that had already put itself on the upswing earlier this summer, and to give himself a puncher’s chance at a fifth ring — this time, with a fresh new angle on how to make even more history.
It is, as always, good to be the King.
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WINNER: Philadelphia 76ers
Zoom out, and over the past three-plus weeks, the Sixers have turned Paul George (who played 78 regular-season games during his two seasons in Philly), two first-round picks and two second-round picks into Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. Pretty good!
Before the Brown trade, the Sixers looked like a team that might have a tough time improving significantly on last season’s 45-37 play-in finish. Dealing for the five-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA swingman seemed like a boost worth a couple of wins, one that could get Philly into the East’s top six and within hailing distance of home-court advantage in Round 1. Add in LeBron, and it’s easy to start talking yourself into 50-plus wins and a real shot at challenging the defending NBA champion New York Knicks for Eastern Conference supremacy.
Brown gives the Sixers the sort of dynamic perimeter slasher — more drives to the basket per game last season than anybody but Deni Avdija — and bruising, reliable high-level two-way big wing they haven’t had since Jimmy Butler’s brief stint in Pennsylvania. LeBron remains one of the NBA’s visionary passers and playmakers, capable of injecting pace, precision and a whole bunch of points into virtually any offensive setting.
Welcome to Philly, LeBron.
(Emilee Chinn via Getty Images)
Both can sprint the floor and fill the lane in transition. Both can work either end of a pick-and-roll, hunting more lumbering bigs or mashing smaller defenders in the low post on switches. Both can contribute on or off the ball; both can command the offense in second units; both can lighten the load on All-NBA point guard Maxey, who led the NBA in minutes per game last season, and former MVP center Embiid, whose ability to remain upright and ambulatory remains the biggest question lording over the entire Philadelphia enterprise.
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Adding James bumps free-agent signing Dean Wade from the starting lineup to the bench, improving Philly’s depth by bolstering a reserve corps that also features gunner Anfernee Simons, big men Ariel Hukporti, Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow, wings Justin Edwards and Jabari Walker, and 2026 first-round pick Labaron Philon Jr. That second unit might not look like a murderer’s row; the fact that Nurse will likely be able to keep at least two of Embiid, Maxey, James and Brown on the floor at all times, though, ought to make those reserves’ lives a hell of a lot easier from a shot-creation and floor-raising perspective.
Only 10 qualifying players averaged at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game last season. The Sixers just added two of them. They’re going to be better. Maybe a lot better.
WINNER: Joel Embiid, Playing the Long Game
What started in 2014 and continued in 2018 has now, finally, come together. It’s like they always say in Philly: Have faith in the system.
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STILL THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF THIS WHOLE SHEBANG: Joel Embiid’s Health
The big fella has played just 109 total regular-season and playoff games over the last three seasons. In that span, the Sixers have outscored opponents by 356 points in 3,604 minutes with him on the floor, and have been outscored by -729 in 9,206 minutes with him off it.
At the risk of oversimplifying things: When Embiid plays, the Sixers are good, and often very good, and when he doesn’t, they are not, and often extremely not. This has held true virtually regardless of which co-stars the Sixers have employed, which coach is calling plays from the sideline, and which front office is building the roster.
Yes, the arrivals of James and Brown to join Maxey and Edgecombe represent what looks like an excellent failsafe, particularly on the offensive end. But can Hukporti, Bona and (gasp) LeBron-at-the-5 give the Sixers enough on the glass and protecting the paint to keep the defense from falling off a cliff when Embiid’s not available, whether due to injury or just needing a breather? Can Embiid get his lower limbs sufficiently oiled up to be able to hold up in pick-and-roll coverage more effectively than he did during the second round, when the Knicks absolutely flame-broiled him in space? And, as always, the billion-dollar question: Can Embiid stay upright and productive into April, May and June?
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If the answer to that question is the same as it’s been to this point in his career, then it’s hard to see the Sixers getting where they — and their extremely well-decorated newcomer — desperately want to go.
A very useful tool.
WINNER: The Sixers’ New Brass
Josh Harris hired Bob Myers, front-office face of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, to steer the ship for his basketball and football clubs. After moving on from Daryl Morey, Myers hires Mike Gansey out of Cleveland to be Philly’s new general manager. Less than two months later, they have Brown — whose arrival reportedly made the Sixers more attractive to the free-agent King — and LeBron.
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Shouts to old Ohio high school basketball connections. Shouts to working your way into the third chair on a podcast to make your pitch. Shouts to coming through in the clutch (or Klutch, as the case might be) when given the opportunity to do so.
WINNER: The Element of Surprise
If you didn’t see LeBron picking Philly coming, don’t sweat it. Neither, apparently, did the Sixers. From Tony Jones of The Athletic:
The Sixers were surprised by LeBron James’ decision, not learning of his choice to accept their offer until minutes before his statement was issued through his representation, according to a team source close to the process.
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As surprises go, this one ain’t half bad. Speaking of which:
LOSER: Everybody Else Trying to Figure Out What to Get Nick Nurse for His Birthday
Sorry, y’all. Bob and Mike just got him LeBron. Your gift card to the local paint ‘n’ sip spot and authentic tablature book for Creed’s “My Own Prison” … well, they’re playing for second. (Still pretty thoughtful, though.)
WINNER: Breadcrumbs
The signs were there all along!
LOSER: Breadcrumbs
… OK, I guess not those ones.
On one hand, after extending Donovan Mitchell earlier this month, and with James Harden likely to sign his own multi-year re-up any second now that the LeBron chase is done, the Cavs are in position to return eight of the top nine players from the team that just made the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since James left for L.A., and for the first time without James being on the roster since 1992. So it’s not exactly Factory of Sadness time at Rocket Arena.
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On the other, though: The Cavs got, y’know, destroyed in the Eastern Conference finals, due in part to the fact that they got a grand total of 80 points in four games on 25-for-79 shooting (31.6%) from their wings: Wade (who since left for Philly), Max Strus, Sam Merrill and Jaylon Tyson.
LeBron represented the Cavs’ best chance for a dramatic improvement on the wing between the backcourt of Mitchell and Harden and the frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Now, their best chance is … Jonathan Kuminga? DeMar DeRozan? A returning-from-Europe Mario Hezonja? Whoever you can get for a package of the expiring contracts of Strus and Dennis Schröder plus their one tradable first-round pick and two tradable seconds?
How much are any of those options raising the ceiling of a team that saw just how far they were away from the promised land against the Knicks, that has seen a handful of conference rivals work to level up in the offseason, and that has added only (admittedly exciting) rookie Meleek Thomas to a roster that, once Harden re-signs, will have virtually no financial flexibility for the next three seasons?
Next year’s Cavs might not be demonstrably worse than last year’s. It’s hard to see them being demonstrably better, though — and in an East that’s moving forward, standing still can start to feel like falling back pretty damn quick.
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WINNER: Lovers of Competitive NBA Cup Group Stages
Feast your eyes on East Group B, you sick freaks:
The defending champs. The last team to beat them in the playoffs, who are getting their All-NBA point guard back. Two teams that said defending champs just knocked off in the playoffs, one of whom just added LeBron and the other of whom just lost out on LeBron. And another team that lost out on LeBron, but who also — ICYMI — traded for Giannis freakin’ Antetokounmpo. Get your point-differential-as-tiebreaker calculators ready!
LOSER: Golden State Warriors, and the Dream of One Last Ride
Nobody thought that LeBron teaming up with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr would guarantee the Warriors anything, necessarily. It did seem, though, like one last shot at wringing just a bit more magic out of what the head coach has famously called a “fading dynasty.”
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With James heading east, the Warriors’ course of action will likely be to re-sign Green, either for one year at the $27.7 million he just declined to afford them the opportunity to chase LeBron or for multiple years at a lower average annual value, and then … mostly just sit tight?
Golden State has scarcely any money on the balance sheet beyond the end of next season. The contracts of Curry and the injured Jimmy Butler expire after this year — though you’d obviously imagine that Steph will get whatever extension he wants whenever he wants it. Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford hold player options for 2027-28, and Brandin Podziemski’s ticketed for restricted free agency after the season if he doesn’t come to terms on an extension of his rookie-scale deal before opening night. Right now, the only Warriors on the books after this season are Moses Moody, first-round pick Yaxel Lendeborg, Gui Santos and Will Richard — all of whom will be making less than 8% of the salary cap in ’27-’28.
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All of that gives the Warriors plenty of flexibility in charting a new path forward — perhaps, even, beyond the end of Curry’s magical run in the Bay. That’s fine; it’s good to have options. But for a franchise and fanbase that became accustomed to annual runs deep into spring and early summer and to competing for championships, the idea of doing what’s sensible and prudent as you watch the light of your all-time superstar start to fade … well, it doesn’t make you a “winner,” I don’t think.
LOSER: Sentimentality
Given the chance to return to the site of former glories, or to team up with an all-time rival in pursuit of adventure, James instead chose … trying to win another ring. At this point, legacy is all that’s left; as the man himself has told us, he’s only chasing ghosts. (Well, one ghost, really.)
WINNER: Rich Paul’s Whiteboard
Send it straight to Springfield. Immediately.
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I’M NOT SURE WHAT TO DO HERE: Jaylen Brown
Brown’s still making a boatload of cash to start, play big minutes and put up big numbers for what should be a playoff team, and he potentially finds himself in an even better position to stick it to the Celtics on Friday than he appeared to be on Thursday. But a player who just had the best season of his career being The Man and the unquestioned No. 1 option on the Celtics while Jayson Tatum convalesced will now be … what, the fourth option in Philadelphia, on at least some nights? How does that sit with him?
LeBron made a point of mentioning his willingness to sacrifice in his statement on the move. Will Brown, too, be willing to take a step back out of the spotlight in his new digs after working so hard to earn that place at the front of the stage last season in Boston? And — perhaps most important of all — when James and Brown (hey, James Brown, all right) sit down to chop all of this up, will they do it on Mind the Game or on Twitch? Could a new media beef soon be broiling????
WINNER: Awareness That We Only Play with One Ball at the NBA Level
Color me optimistic on the “How will Philly deal with all these mouths to feed?” front. Maxey’s a willing and excellent off-ball player, with elite shooting off the catch and the ability to sprint around off-ball screens to demand attention and create openings for himself and others. James showed late last season that he can play that game, too, downshifting into something of a super role-player mode alongside Dončić and Austin Reaves as the Lakers got cooking in the second half of the season.
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Before being thrust into top-dog duty last season, Brown made an All-Star/All-NBA/Finals MVP career out of partnering with another high-usage on-ball playmaker. And Embiid … well, he misses a lot of time, so there’ll be plenty of opportunity to soak up his possessions! (He’s also become a significantly better passer as his career has progressed, reading the floor well from the post and being willing to move the ball from up top in dribble handoffs and on high-low feeds to cutting teammates.)
Yes, Nurse will have his work cut out for him finding creative ways to keep all his shiny new plates spinning. But I think there’s a chance that the new-look Sixers will coalesce more smoothly on offense than those trumpeting those sky-high usage rates might think.
LOSER (BUT DON’T FEEL TOO BAD FOR THEM): Miami Heat
Missing out on a reunion with a player who led you to four NBA Finals and won two NBA championships probably doesn’t feel great. You know what definitely does, though? Landing Giannis, which happened way back in the long, long ago of … one month ago.
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The concerns many raised about Miami’s post-blockbuster roster remain: whether Giannis can stay healthy, whether the Heat feature enough shooting to properly space the floor for him, whether the talent on hand’s a bit too awkward a fit to neatly produce a top-10 offense, whether Erik Spoelstra’s got enough options he can trust in the second unit to avoid the team becoming too lopsided to stay solid come the postseason, etc. But so, too, does the tantalizing possibility of just how suffocating a team built around the tandem of Giannis and Bam Adebayo, with Andrew Wiggins on the wing and Davion Mitchell at the point of attack, might be — and of how overpowering and bruising it might be on the other end of the floor.
The Heat could absolutely have used LeBron’s playmaking to help unlock scoring chances for Giannis and Bam that might otherwise seem too congested with all those big bodies occupying the same spaces. But a team doesn’t have to be pretty to be a thing of beauty, and with Giannis in tow, I’m betting Spo’s over the moon over the chance to find gold by getting grimy.
Anthony Edwards probably wasn’t too heartbroken when he heard the news on Friday. From the sound of his walk-and-talk interview with Kevin Negandhi at Fanatics Fest last weekend, the All-NBA swingman maybe already had an inkling the Wolves were out of the running:
And from the sound of the story that a source told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, Ant plans to approach continuing to square off against LeBron rather than lining up alongside him with his customary level of demure reservation:
During one of several conversations he had with James, Edwards playfully told him if he didn’t make a decision soon, he would tear James’ head off, according to league sources briefed on the conversation. James laughed and asked Edwards what would happen if he chose another team.
Edwards didn’t hesitate, telling him that would be OK, because that just meant he could tear James’s head off on the court when their two teams met.
Edwards’ attitude is commendable, and the possibility for fireworks in his backcourt partnership with newcomer LaMelo Ball is enticing. But after trading both Julius Randle and Naz Reid to bring in Ball, and after missing out on James in free agency, the Wolves now find themselves facing a very simple, but very big question: Who the hell plays power forward now?
The Wolves played just 198 non-garbage-time minutes last season without either Randle or Reid on the floor, according to PBP Stats. (They were outscored by 28 points in those minutes, with a defensive rating that would’ve ranked among the NBA’s worst.) And, like Randle and Reid, the players who manned the 4 spot in the lion’s share of those minutes — Kyle Anderson, Julian Phillips and Joe Ingles — are also no longer on Minnesota’s roster.
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Given the current makeup of that roster, it would seem that the most reasonable approach would be to bump 6-foot-10 small forward Jaden McDaniels up from the 3 to the 4 … but head coach Chris Finch doesn’t sound super enthused about locking that in just yet.
“If [more minutes for McDaniels at power forward is] what we feel at the end of training camp is the best thing for us, then of course we’ll do it,” Finch told Krawcynzski. “But that’s not necessarily my mindset going in. My mindset going here right now is way more open and lean into other things, whether it be creativity or finding a guy or the right guys across both lineups, first and second, that unlock it.”
So … is that Terrence Shannon Jr. or Jaylen Clark, young reserves who have mostly played on the wing? Is it Josh Green, who arrived with Ball in the deal from Charlotte — and who, like Shannon and Clark, would represent a 6-foot-6-or-under option at the 4? Is it Trey Lyles, just signed after a year with Real Madrid? Is it some as-yet-unearthed trade option that Tim Connelly can snare with the expiring contracts of Green and the injured Donte DiVincenzo, but without any picks, since the last of those went out the door in the LaMelo deal? Are any of those a legitimate answer for a team that wants to compete for titles?
A skeptic would say no. But in the summer, hope still springs eternal.
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“I see the opportunity to be creative with that, maybe, every night,” Finch told Krawcyznski. “Maybe it’s a different person starting at the 4 based on who we’re playing. Why not?”
WINNER: San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder
Maybe I’m overrating the theoretical team that only ever existed in my head, but I thought LeBron-to-Minnesota, combined with the jolt that LaMelo’s playmaking can bring, would’ve given the Wolves a real shot at joining the Spurs and Thunder in the West’s top tier. With him going east, though, the last two Western Conference champions remain a cut above everyone else, in my view. (Until Connelly swings yet another bats***, out-of-nowhere deal that nobody saw coming.)
WINNER: East Coast Bias
The Knicks are the defending NBA champions. The Pistons return the bulk of the core that just won 60 games. The Celtics essentially swap a healthy Jayson Tatum into Brown’s role on last year’s 56-win squad, while adding George, Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley Jr. to aid their nightly effort to win the possession battle. The Cavs have won 50-plus games in consecutive seasons and just made the conference finals.
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The Sixers just added LeBron and Brown. The Heat just added Giannis. The Raptors just added Kawhi Leonard (we think?).
The Hawks just plucked Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins off the Thunder essentially for free, adding a pair of rotation wings to a 46-win team that took more games off the Knicks than any other playoff opponent. The Magic pushed the Pistons to the limit despite seeming to actively hate the idea of playing offense with one another, and now enter Year 2 of their Desmond Bane era with a new head coach in former Spurs defensive coordinator and longtime Jason Kidd lieutenant Sean Sweeney.
Oh, and the Pacers — who, as you might recall, were in Game 7 of the NBA Finals 13 months ago — bring back a healthy Tyrese Haliburton to pair with Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and new starting center Ivica Zubac.
That’s 10 teams that all probably think they should, or at least could, win 50 games and at least one playoff round next season if they get a little lucky. Add in the Hornets, who figure to take a step back without LaMelo but maybe not too big of one, and what could be more competitive rosters in places like Washington and Brooklyn, and this looks like the best East in … decades? A quarter-century?
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For years and years, the balance of power in the NBA has rested squarely in the Western Conference. But while the Thunder and Spurs still enter next season as the favorites to win it all, the depth of talent in the East suggests that maybe that balance has tilted back toward the Atlantic.
WINNER: Lovers of Grudge Matches
Sixers vs. Celtics, one of the NBA’s most storied rivalries, was already going to be a blood feud next season after Philly came back from 3-1 down to end Boston’s season in the opening round of the playoffs. And then Philly traded for Brown and signed the guy who went toe-to-toe with the Big 3 Celtics for years in Cleveland and Miami.
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Speaking of which, Sixers vs. Cavs and Sixers vs. Heat — LeBron returning East for multiple matchups against teams with whom he won his first three titles, and over whom he just chose Philly — ought to be pretty spicy. And how about Sixers-Raptors, with LeBron returning to the place he once so summarily owned that it became known as “LeBronto,” potentially resuming pleasantries with former Finals combatant and fellow L.A. expat Leonard?
Remember how the Knicks annihilated the Sixers in the second round of the playoffs? And remember how Rich Paul said that, if the Knicks hadn’t just won the title, LeBron would almost certainly be playing in New York next season? Let’s pencil that one in for opening week (if not opening night) and/or maybe Christmas Day.
LeBron coming back East means renewing acquaintances with so many teams he once stomped all over en route to Finals after Finals after Finals. The guess here? They’re not going to welcome him back with open arms.
Speaking of which:
WINNER: Adam Silver and the Schedule-Makers
You got what you wanted, Commish. Now let’s wrap that sucker up and all go off the grid for a little while before training camp, huh?
