LeBron James had a path to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, but the Brooklyn Nets were at least part of the theoretical picture.
James was weighing several teams before landing on Philadelphia, and the idea of him ending up in Brooklyn was not impossible. He had already considered the then-New Jersey Nets in free agency back in 2010, and this time around there was a sense that proximity to New York City mattered. His agent, Rich Paul, said James would have gone to the Mecca had the New York Knicks not have won the 2026 NBA Finals.
Of course, the Nets’ current roster would not have made that kind of pitch easy. A 41-year-old James would not suddenly turn Brooklyn into a title team, even with Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle in place.
Both can help a team win games, but they are not built to carry a scoring load alone. Egor Dëmin and Mikel Brown Jr. are still a few years from making real impact.
Still, the broader idea is simple: if Brooklyn had come out of the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving era with a different superstar and a real commitment to staying competitive instead of tanking, James might have looked at the Nets differently. A move across the Brooklyn Bridge is a lot easier than making the trip to Philadelphia, whether by ground transportation or aircraft.
The Sixers, though, had the better setup. They were fortunate to draft and keep Joel Embiid through the ups and downs, then add more star power to stay in the mix. Drafting Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, along with trading for Jaylen Brown, only strengthened that position.
So while Brooklyn could have been in the conversation in theory, Philadelphia had the roster and the momentum to make the bigger draw. If the Nets had kept at least one of Durant or Irving and remained in the playoff race, maybe they could have made a real run at convincing The King to finish his career there.
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The appeal is obvious in the abstract, since a move of that size would bring immediate attention and a very different kind of ceiling to a roster still being shaped. But it would also mean Brooklyn parting with future first-round picks and other assets, which is exactly the sort of cost that can define whether a bold swing becomes a shortcut or a setback. [Read more 🡒]
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Former Nets Bust Ben Simmons Is Suddenly Back In NBA Talks
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