How LeBron James fits on the 76ers

How will James fit in the City of Brotherly Love?

I was quite literally seconds away from publishing an article when the Shams tweet about LeBron James signing with the Philadelphia 76ers came through my phone. Guess I’ll have to send you a heavily modified version of that one next week.

The days of James holding up an entire league while he mulled his options are clearly over, but you could still hear a whole lot of sighs when news broke minutes ago that he was joining the 76ers on his classic 1+1 deal (two years with the second a player option) for $8 million.

It seems likelier than not that Philly will be James’ final stand as a basketball luminary (ceremonial retirement as a Cavalier notwithstanding). "This is my last decision,” he wrote on X. What does this mean for Philly? What does this mean for James?

Even with a playing career older than Victor Wembanyama, James is still an elite player. He was a deserving All-Star last year, averaging 21/6/7 on above-average shooting efficiency, and he led the Lakers to an upset playoff series win over the Houston Rockets without much from Austin Reaves or anything from Luka Doncic.

Last year proved that James is open to a secondary role. His 29.2% usage was his lowest since his second year in the league, and his 22.6 field goal attempts per 100 possessions were the fewest of his career. His shot selection changed, too. For the first time ever, more than half of his two-point attempts were assisted.

While James may have been carrying a (slightly) lighter load, there were some fun upticks in his numbers, too. A whopping 26.7% of his finished plays came in transition, the highest level since at least 2015-16, when the NBA’s tracking data starts. That helped him tie his career-best dunk frequency (which never happens to old guys! Your average NBA player starts dunking less after their rookie year!).

James spent far more time off-ball and in the corners than in years past. When he was on the court with Reaves and Doncic, James looked like… well, like a particularly capable third banana, which is exactly what he was.

He’ll be third or fourth in Philadelphia most nights, too, but in a dramatically different fashion.