Dub Nation, the Golden State Warriors went 0-2 against the Philadelphia 76ers last season. That Philly team had a young, springy energy through Tyrese Maxey and the rookie V.J. Edgecombe. Those two dudes were a two-headed monster that took turns giving the Warriors fits. Steph Curry missed both contests, and former MVP Joel Embiid played in only one, but regardless it was clear that Philly was a force to be reckoned with.
This year? They have suddenly morphed into the modern-day Monstarz, with the additions of LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. Damn.
Philly pried the Finals MVP out of Boston in July. A few weeks later, King James decided the last chapter of his career would happen right back in the conference where he spent most of it. The Eastern Conference was his house for a decade and a half, and he ran it like a landlord who changes the locks whenever he feels like it. LeBron spent two stints in Cleveland and four years in Miami pushing that whole conference around, and he made eight straight Finals out of the East while he was at it. He was already in the greatest-of-all-time conversation before he ever put on a Lakers jersey in 2018.
The biggest knock on him for 20 years has been that he runs off to build superteams. So what does he do at 41? He walks into what might be the deepest roster he’s ever had, which is saying something for a guy who played on some damn good Cleveland, Miami, and L.A. rosters.
Look at who he’s sharing the floor with! Maxey is an All-Star and Edgecombe is coming for everybody’s lunch. Embiid is a premier center when his body cooperates, and now Brown is there too, simmering with motivation after being dumped by the Celtics.
LeBron is the headline, but I keep coming back to Brown, because none of this happens without that trade. Warriors fans know Brown well from the 2022 Finals, when he gave Golden State fits in a series the Dubs won in six. He spent his entire career on the other side of that rivalry, and now he’s wearing their colors. Josh Grieb at Liberty Ballers put it in wrestling terms, which might be the only language that fits:
The excitement around James joining the Sixers and his first day at the team’s practice facility nearly overshadowed the first major domino that brought him here in the first place. While it wasn’t Jaylen Brown’s first time talking to the Philadelphia media, it was also his first time wearing a Sixers uniform. Frankly, it was weird to see a guy who spent the first 10 years of his career terrorizing the Sixers as a member of the Boston Celtics put on the other team’s jersey.
It didn’t feel any more real when VJ Edgecombe crashed his press conference, prompting Brown to jokingly tell him to get his ass out of there like they had been teammates for years. I think I finally understand how people felt when Hulk Hogan joined the nWo.
So here’s LeBron at 41, and the Atlantic Division rivalries are already lined up waiting for him. Boston is the obvious one: a bitter rivalry just got a defector, and Brown gets to hear what the Garden sounds like when it boos him. The Knicks are the defending champs after winning their first title in over 50 years, and if LeBron is the guy who ends that title defense, he goes straight to the top of New York’s villain list. I’d bet he’d love every second of it. Toronto has Kawhi Leonard now, so we get Bron and Kawhi again more than a decade after their back-to-back Spurs-Heat Finals. Brooklyn is a rest night.
And through all of this, Philadelphia is still waiting on its first championship since 1983.
For the Warriors, the best part of this summer happened when LeBron left the West. That’s one less obstacle in the Western bracket, and the Dubs remember exactly what that obstacle looked like when the Lakers knocked them out in the 2023 conference semis. Now Steph is on the other coast, LeBron is a guy he sees twice a year, and there’s only one way that turns into a series.
That way would be a Finals. Steph and LeBron met in four straight of them from 2015 to 2018, and nobody thought we’d get a fifth.
But we’ve seen plenty of superteams look great on paper and never come together, whether because of chemistry or injuries. ESPN’s Sixers preview hit this nail on the head:
Embiid’s health will be monitored, as it has been the past few years. So will James’, as he’s averaged an admirable 67 games the past three years as he plays well into his 40s. Much regular-season weight will be placed on a new acquisition in Brown, a second-year emerging star in Edgecombe and a franchise mainstay in Maxey.
Will there be enough continuity through the first six months to cash in during the playoffs? Recent history says it takes a couple of years for talent to coalesce, but do the 76ers have that kind of time with James and Embiid? James’ personal history says by Year 2, his teams are ready to win titles. It seems, though, that the 76ers are loaded up for this June, not next June.
Circle Philly on the calendar, Dub Nation. It’s two games in the regular season, and maybe, just maybe, a preview of one last Steph-LeBron series.
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