The Sixers’ splashy addition of LeBron James has changed the conversation in Philadelphia in a hurry. What used to be a team getting lumped into the Eastern Conference’s crowded middle now looks like a genuine threat to the reigning-champion New York Knicks.
That’s the real measuring stick here: not whether the Sixers are better than they were, but whether they’ve done enough to pass a Knicks team that just won the East’s throne and brought home its first championship since 1972-73. On paper, Philadelphia’s starting five - James, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid - is outrageous. But New York’s group of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns already proved it could function at the highest level with a level of cohesion the Sixers still have to build.
At point guard, the edge goes to Brunson. Maxey was once part of a fun debate with him, but that argument has tilted hard in Brunson’s direction.
His ability to create shots and carry a playoff offense is simply on another level, and the source material points to the 45 points he dropped to eliminate the San Antonio Spurs in five as the kind of performance that separated him. Philadelphia’s roster is so loaded with offensive options that Maxey doesn’t need to be the better individual player for the Sixers to work.
The shooting guard spot is more interesting. Hart has become one of the league’s best glue guys, but Edgecombe brings something different.
The 2025 third overall pick has on-ball ability Hart doesn’t really have in his bag, even if Hart still has the advantage in connective passing, defense and rebounding. Edgecombe’s shooting and defense should rise in this setting, which makes this one more about whether you want the safer floor or the higher ceiling.
On the wing, Brown gets the nod over Bridges. Bridges still brings elite point-of-attack defense, and the source notes that showed up in the playoffs even during a season with some cold stretches.
But Brown is the better offensive creator, and that matters. The comparison leans on what he did in Boston, where his game helped lift the Celtics to 56 wins around a carefully built supporting cast.
The point is blunt: you wouldn’t get the same result with Bridges.
The power forward matchup is where the Sixers make their biggest statement. Anunoby is exactly the kind of wing teams covet - versatile, athletic and capable of knocking down shots.
But this is LeBron James, and that changes everything. The four-time Most Valuable Player is better in nearly every offensive category except three-point shooting, and he brings a defensive IQ and adaptability that separate him from Anunoby even if he’s not the same kind of defender in his prime.
Center is the one spot where the debate has actually shifted. There was a time when Embiid over Towns would have been automatic.
That’s no longer the case in the source’s view, with Embiid’s injuries and the fact that he has played 57 games in the last two years weighing heavily against him. Towns, meanwhile, stayed healthy and played a central role in New York’s postseason run, functioning as an offensive hub that picked teams apart.
The coaching comparison also tilts toward New York right now. Nick Nurse has already won a title with the Toronto Raptors in 2018-19, but Mike Brown gets the edge here because of the way he adjusted in the playoffs.
He had Towns handling more of the facilitating, let Brunson work away from the ball, trusted his bench and found workable answers against opposing stars. Nurse’s Sixers run has drawn criticism for an offense that can bog down, a heavy reliance on forcing turnovers and a tendency to lean on veterans.
That said, the Sixers aren’t the shallow team some are making them out to be. Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope give Philadelphia three proven reserves, and that’s before getting to Dominick Barlow, Adem Bona, Ariel Hukporti and Labaron Philon Jr. If even two of that second group become dependable, the Sixers could end up with one of the deeper rosters in the league.
New York still has the stronger bench for now. Losing Mitchell Robinson to Boston hurts, but the Knicks can still lean on Miles McBride, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson, Landry Shamet and Andre Drummond, with Tyler Kolek, Pacôme Dadiet and Mohamed Diawara also waiting in the wings.
So where does that leave the race? The answer is simple: Philadelphia is loaded, but not clearly ahead of the Knicks yet.
The Sixers have the kind of star power that can make the whole league sit up, but they still need time on the floor together and actual chemistry before anyone crowns them the East’s favorite. Right now, New York remains the reigning champion, and that matters.
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