LeBron James didn’t arrive in Philadelphia to be a one-note addition, and two games in, that part is already obvious. The 76ers brought him in to fill a little of every gap, and he has done exactly that while helping them keep their early season rolling.
Philadelphia is 3-0 after beating the Knicks and Cavaliers, with James playing a major role in those wins. He sat out Saturday night’s 127-116 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, but his imprint is already all over the way this team is taking shape. Through his first stretch with the 76ers, the 41-year-old is averaging 15.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
The biggest early takeaway is that James has made the offense harder to predict. Philadelphia had obvious questions about how the ball would move with James, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid all in the mix. So far, James has been the connector, using his playmaking and pressure going downhill to help the group settle into an identity that is still very much being built.
The numbers back that up. With James on the floor, the 76ers are scoring 106.1 points per 100 possessions, which is 1.1 points better than when he sits, according to Basketball Reference.
The setup Philadelphia imagined when it got him was clear: James as a point forward. That has shown up quickly.
In the Oct. 20 win over the Knicks, three starters scored off his seven assists - Maxey, Brown and Embiid. He found Brown in space for his first points as a Sixer, including a sequence where Brown ducked in and then got a three on an off-ball action.
He also set up Embiid for a three on a pick-and-pop, the kind of play that figures to keep showing up as the season goes on.
Brown and Embiid have not been boxed in by James, either. They’ve had room to operate on their own. That’s part of what makes this offense so difficult to pin down: one possession can look nothing like the next.
The early James-Maxey partnership is especially intriguing. Maxey was one of the voices that helped bring James to Philadelphia, and the fit has already shown real bite. A lot of it has come in transition, where James finds Maxey streaking ahead, but the two have also worked as screeners for each other.
Against New York, Mikal Bridges took away Maxey’s chance to use a James ball screen, so James slipped out, Maxey hit him on the short roll, and James spotted Brown cutting from the weak side for a dunk. Against Cleveland on Oct.
22, Maxey screened for James and slipped it, leading to an easy James layup. That kind of two-man action is exactly the sort of thing Philadelphia can keep leaning on.
The results when James and Maxey are on the court together have been loud. The 76ers are outscoring opponents by 18.8 points per 100 possessions in those minutes, according to Databallr. It’s only a two-game sample, but it fits the chaos they can create when James is rolling.
His value isn’t just showing up on offense, either. James has also given Philadelphia a defensive tool that changes how the team can line up.
Against the Knicks and Cavaliers, the 76ers used James on the opposing center while Embiid played a free safety role behind him. That let James handle Karl-Anthony Towns and Jarrett Allen physically, while Embiid drifted off Josh Hart and Peyton Watson to help clog the paint.
Nick Nurse went to that look in the second half of both games, and it paid off. Philadelphia won both third quarters by a combined 27 points, a stretch that swung both contests. Keeping Embiid fresh is part of the idea, and James gives the 76ers a way to do it.
That defensive versatility has fed the offense, too. The stops have fueled transition chances, where Philadelphia has been especially dangerous. James’ pace and decision-making have stood out there, and 10 of his 17 points against Cleveland came in the third quarter, when he pushed through a defense scrambling to get organized.
The 76ers are not finished products. They’re still figuring things out, and the Knicks and Cavaliers may look different in April.
But James has already given them something useful: a team that can change shape on the fly. Nurse has only begun to deploy him, and that gives Philadelphia a lot more room to grow from here.
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For Philly, the bigger issue is less about who is out and more about who has to absorb the extra responsibility. Nurse said other players are expected to step up in James's absence, with Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown among the names who could be asked to carry more of the load, while Tacko Fall, Dominick Barlow and Ariel Hukporti are also unavailable and Dean Wade was questionable before being cleared to play. [Read more 🡒]