76ers Have a Bold Plan for LeBron James’s Role in Loaded Philly Lineup

The 76ers have a number of elite scorers to feed, and, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, doing so may become James’s No. 1 priority in the Philadelphia lineup.

LeBron James may take over as the 76ers’ starting point guard, shifting Tyrese Maxey off the ball. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By now, you’ve certainly seen the 76ers' projected starting five following the signing of LeBron James—a star-studded list in which James slots in at power forward between fellow frontcourt standouts Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid, and alongside Philadelphia’s explosive young backcourt duo of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

Defensively, that is probably what you can expect most nights when the Sixers run their five best out on the court. Offensively, however, Nick Nurse & Co. reportedly envision a slightly different arrangement for one of the most talented starting lineups in basketball.

Last season with the Lakers, James evolved into a true third option, allowing the ball-dominant Luka Dončić to control the offense, with Austin Reaves emerging as the latter's primary offensive running mate.

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Conventional wisdom dictates that James’s role with Philadelphia would be similar; Maxey and Embiid both need the ball in their hands, and that's before you even get to Brown, who embraced his role as the No. 1 option with the Celtics before Jayson Tatum’s return last year. Edgecombe, meanwhile, is entering just his second season and shouldn’t be anywhere near his peak, even after averaging 16 points a year ago.

For all of James’s prodigious talents on the court, his ability to distribute is probably his greatest, and that is exactly what Nurse will look for from him, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Rather than telling James to park in the corner or wait to take advantage of mismatches created by his talented teammates, the 76ers will reportedly look for him to play a lot of point guard in 2026–27.

.@ShamsCharania reports the Philadelphia 76ers are planning on LeBron James playing some time at the point guard position 👀 pic.twitter.com/s5LeiAqzb1

— ESPN (@espn) July 27, 2026

“We’re going to be looking at some point LeBron James this upcoming season,” Charania said Monday on ESPN’s NBA Today. “The Sixers are expecting LeBron James to play a good amount of time at the point guard position on offense, initiating the game, the offense, for Nick Nurse.”

The move will bump Maxey off the ball, which could help open up the 25-year-old's abilities as a scorer, as well.

76ers’ Point LeBron plan could pay dividends for Tyrese Maxey

Tyrese Maxey could thrive off the ball as LeBron James takes over some of the 76ers’ point guard duties. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It did not take long for Maxey to break out at the NBA level. In his second season—the 2021-22 campaign, in which the 76ers acquired James Harden—he jumped from 8.0 points per game as a rookie to 17.5. And he continued his upward trajectory as a scorer the following year, when he averaged 20.3 points per game while Harden ran the offense.

Maxey has been an All-NBA caliber lead guard since Harden’s departure, but his efficiency as a shooter has dropped off. Playing alongside the Beard in 2022–23, he shot a career-high 43.4% from three and posted a true-shooting percentage of .605, also a career best. In the three seasons since, he has shot 36% from three and posted a TS% of .575.

Furthermore, Maxey shot 33.5% on pull-up threes last season, vs. 41.7% on catch-and-shoot threes during the 2025–26 regular season; in the playoffs, that pull-up number fell to 31.4% and the catch-and-shoot mark climbed to 43.5%. With James playing significant minutes at point, Maxey should get more prime shooting opportunities.

At the same time, the Kentucky export should have plenty of chances to run the offense as well. James will turn 42 during the first half of the upcoming season and has dealt with a string of injuries over the last few seasons, as one could reasonably expect for a player still contributing at a significant level in his 40s.

James’s last season playing significant time at point guard ended with a championship

During Monday's NBA Today, Charania reminds viewers that James was the point guard for the 2019–20 world champion Lakers:

“The one season that LeBron spent at point guard in the NBA in his 23 seasons, the 2019–20 season,” Charania said. “He led the league in assists, the Lakers won the championship that year, and we never saw Point LeBron again until potentially this season. But the buzzword around the Sixers this season is sacrifice and they’re going to have a couple team minicamps in August that’ll give the Sixers and LeBron James an opportunity to spend time with each other, to galvanize, to get that chemistry right before the start of the season.”

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James averaged 25.3 points per game in 2019-20 and led the NBA in assists at 10.3 per game, his first and only time averaging double digits in the category. He finished second in MVP voting that year, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, and delivered a title to Los Angeles.

Asking James to replicate that kind of season seven years later is probably not viable, but he has proved that he can be an elite player in just about any role or position, and has continued to play at an All-Star level into his 40s. And as the 76ers break very new rotations with James and Brown, along with bench additions like Anfernee Simons, Dean Wade, Ariel Hukporti and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, James—who has played 11 more NBA games than any other player in the league’s history—may be the perfect person to entrust with running the offense.

Nurse and his staff have their work cut out for them to ensure this team clicks

James’s fit in Philly is incredibly fun on paper, and there may be no starting five more talented in the NBA. But it isn’t a perfect stylistic fit. The team could certainly use more shooting, especially if James’s tail-off as a three-point marksman in 2025–26 (.317, his worst percentage since 2015–16) continues.

LeBron’s health at 42 will also be a question, though it is a distant second to that of center Joel Embiid’s virtually every year. Also worth noting is the team’s depth at center behind Embiid, with little-used Knicks reserve Hukporti flipping places with the veteran Andre Drummond from last year’s squad, joining Adem Bona as the main backups at center.

On NBA Today, Charania mentioned “sacrifice” as the buzzword around Philly. And the Sixers will need some serious brotherly love to make that happen, because the 2025–26 numbers for the projected starting five are certainly not sustainable as a full group.

Player	PPG (2025–26)	FGA per game	Usage Rate
LeBron James (Lakers)	20.9	15.3	27.2%
Tyrese Maxey	28.3	21.4	29.4%
VJ Edgecombe	16.0	13.7	20.1%
Jaylen Brown (Celtics)	28.7	21.7	36.2%
Joel Embiid	26.9	18.3	33.5%

James’s numbers have already started trending down, with his scoring tying his rookie year for his career low and his field goal attempts and usage rate coming in at career lows, too. He also accepted a two-year, $8 million deal to be a 76er; he is probably comfortable setting the table for the rest of the team.

But are Maxey and Embiid—the two faces of the franchise, in different phases of their careers—comfortable with taking secondary roles on a given night? Is Brown, who seemed to signal his desire to be a No. 1 option after getting a taste of that role in Boston last year? If Nurse can answer all of these questions affirmatively and get some luck with the health of his aging stars, Philadelphia is a championship threat.

If not, this team may more closely resemble the 2011 Eagles “Dream Team” than the ’17 or ‘24 title-winning Birds.

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