LeBron James is already treating this preseason like the first step toward a bigger finish.
With the Philadelphia 76ers still sorting out chemistry in a shortened runway to the regular season, James made it clear the process matters as much as the polished product. Ahead of the team’s final preseason game on Friday, the 41-year-old said the group is coming along, even if the progress won’t look the same every day.
“Every day is getting better, and obviously … some days will be better than others,” James said. “But when I get to the facility, and when I get around these guys, it definitely helps.
We have good energy and good spirit. Obviously, the basketball game, what it brings to all of us, is a sense of like togetherness and fun.
“It's fun to go to work.”
That patience has been necessary. Philadelphia is 1-2 in the preseason, and head coach Nick Nurse rested his veterans in a 144-106 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Sixers now head into a near week-long break before their preseason rematch with Boston, and James said the small sample size has still given the team something to build on.
“Obviously, this has been a small sample size for us, and we're still trying to learn each other on the floor,” James said. “We're still trying to put each other in a position to be successful and complement each other the best way we can. … It's going to take some time, and we know that.”
For a roster built around James, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid, that time is the real storyline. The 2026-27 76ers also have second-year guard VJ Edgecombe, who is expected to keep growing in his sophomore season.
The learning curve also extends to the younger players around them. Rookie guard Labaron Philon said James offered him a simple message before his first NBA season.
“He told me that I had to be myself,” Philon said. “I had a floater that was available to me, and I didn't take it. I needed to take it.”
Philon backed that up against Boston, finishing with 14 points, seven assists, two rebounds, and one steal off the bench in the road loss. That game also marked Brown’s return to TD Garden after his summer move from the Celtics, the only team he had played for in his first 10 seasons.
Brown said the formula at this point in the season should stay straightforward.
“The key is getting the ball up the floor and kicking it ahead and playing the game the right way,” Brown said. “We want to run and fill the corners, and do the basic stuff.
It seems like we have a really good group. We don't want to overcomplicate things.
But the simple details are the most effective. We want to sprint to the corner and get our spacing and play the game the right way.”
Nurse has not said whether Brown will get a shot against his former team again on Friday. Either way, the 76ers are about to get one more preseason look at the version of themselves they hope holds together when the games start counting.
In Other News...
LeBron's Sixers Deal Now Has An Off-Court Problem
LeBron James fit with the 76ers has already been one of the most closely watched moves of the year, and now the conversation has shifted well beyond the court. A reported sponsorship arrangement with Fanatics has drawn fresh scrutiny because it is said to include on-demand helicopter travel, a detail that has some NBA owners wondering whether the line between endorsement and compensation is getting too blurry.
Pablo Torre is digging into the contract between James and Fanatics, and the interest around it goes beyond a simple endorsement splash. The deal is reportedly structured to extend past James playing days, which only adds to the intrigue as the league monitors anything that could be viewed as salary cap circumvention. For Philadelphia, it is one more layer of uncertainty around a marquee addition that was supposed to be judged first by basketball, not by the fine print. [Read more 🡒]
LeBrons 76ers Travel Setup Has Rival Owners Paying Attention
LeBron James plan to split his regular-season time between Philadelphia and New York has already become one of the more unusual travel stories around the league, and the setup is drawing notice well beyond the cities hell be calling home. James says hell use a helicopter to get to home games, and the aircraft carries a Fanatics logo, tying the arrangement to his multi-year sponsorship deal with the company and its corporate helicopter access.
What has made the story linger is not just the travel itself, but the way rival owners are watching it. According to reporter Pablo Torre, some NBA team owners have raised concerns about whether the arrangement could come with extra privileges, even though there have been no official findings. For the 76ers, it is the kind of off-court wrinkle that can turn into a broader league conversation almost as quickly as it becomes a logistical one. [Read more 🡒]
Sixers Suddenly Have A Frontcourt Decision They Can't Ignore
With injuries piling up in their frontcourt, the 76ers are looking closely at available big men, and Trey Jemison has surfaced as a possible fit. Toronto waived Jemison after he appeared in one preseason game, leaving the 76ers among the teams weighing whether to add another body in the paint as they sort through the early-season strain on their roster.
Jemisons recent path has made him a familiar name for teams hunting depth, as he spent time with the Knicks on a two-way contract during the 2025-2026 season. For Philadelphia, the question is less about pedigree than immediate need, and the coming decision will say plenty about how aggressively the team wants to protect itself against a frontcourt that has already been tested. [Read more 🡒]