Category: Sports News

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In a move that has sent shockwaves through sports fans across the world, LeBron James has officially signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. But one of the more fascinating parts of this morning’s blockbuster news wasn’t just where LeBron is playing for his 24th season, it was how he did it.

Bypassing traditional media outlets, insiders, and press conferences, James used his exclusive trading card partner, Topps, to break the news. In doing so, he made history as the first athlete ever to announce a new team signing via a trading card.

This represents a dramatic update on where the sports, lifestyle, and collectibles industries are heading.

The “Year 24” Drop

Topps immediately launched a print-on-demand Topps NOW card to commemorate the announcement. Built to capture real-time, memorable moments in sports, the Topps NOW platform only prints the exact number of cards ordered by fans within a limited window.

This specific LeBron James drop is available for just 48 hours. The card’s design features “Year 24” prominently in the background, with LeBron depicted in a Sixers uniform in the foreground.

However, the true frenzy lies in the chase. One lucky collector who purchases the base edition will randomly receive a one-of-one autographed version of the card. Adding to the historical weight of the moment, the 1/1 features James’ brand-new signature, which now incorporates a crown drawn over his name.

The hype is already permeating the highest levels of the sports business. Fanatics CEO and Philadelphia native Michael Rubin quickly chimed in on Topps’ Instagram announcement, commenting, “Ok I’m chasing this one.”

There are estimates by some that this could be the most printed Topps Now card of all time.

Commerce as the New Press Conference

To view this simply as a clever marketing stunt by Topps would be missing the broader cultural shift. The trading card hobby has evolved from a niche pastime into a mainstream lifestyle, blending sports, high-end art, and pop culture.

James laid the groundwork for this moment in January 2024 when he signed an exclusive trading-card pact with Topps. Since making the jump, LeBron and Topps have masterfully built a symbiotic relationship. James has been seen wearing custom patches for the brand, including a special “23 Seasons” patch, that are specifically designed to be cut up and embedded into future Topps premium sets.

Now, by allowing Topps to break arguably the biggest NBA news of the year, James is turning commerce into a primary media channel. Ultimately, he is utilizing sports cards as the megaphone for this moment.

A Growing Ecosystem of Brand Power

This blurring of the lines between athlete announcements and brand platforms is a trend we are seeing across the sports landscape. Athletes are increasingly leveraging their commercial partnerships to make waves rather than relying strictly on traditional sports journalism.

Recent moves in the sports business world highlight this exact shift:

• Video Game Reveals: Announcements that used to be standard press releases are now global media events tied to brand ecosystems. For example, when 2K recently unveiled the cover athletes for NBA 2K27, they didn’t just announce a game; they celebrated Victor Wembanyama becoming the first San Antonio Spurs player to cover the standard edition, sharing the spotlight with transcendent stars like Caitlin Clark and Derrick Rose.

• Retirement Announcement: Athletes are increasingly using lifestyle and culture brands to control the narrative of major career milestones. When Serena Williams decided to step away from professional tennis in September 2022, she didn’t call a press conference or sit down with a sports network. Instead, she broke the biggest news of her career by penning a deeply personal essay for Vogue magazine. Yes, Vogue, not Sports Illustrated or ESPN. By using a high-fashion publication to announce her ‘evolution’ away from the sport, Williams proved that modern athletes understand their audience has evolved well beyond the confines of traditional sports journalism and press conferences.

What LeBron did this morning is the ultimate evolution of this trend. It proves that the modern athlete understands that their personal brand holds just as much weight as the networks that broadcast their games.

As the hobby continues to solidify itself as a pillar of sports culture, expect to see this playbook replicated. The symbiotic relationship between global superstars and collectible companies is no longer just about signing memorabilia after the fact, it is about making the collectible the very center of the story.

Will you be chasing the 1/1 Lebron 76ers Topps Now card? Let us know on Mantel.

Hatred, at times, can be an art, and longtime Boston Celtics nemesis LeBron James may have just scripted the perfect final act as the franchise’s greatest villain.

James reportedly signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Philadelphia on Friday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, announcing it would be his “final decision” on X. His decision comes three weeks after the Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Sixers and sent Boston into a city-wide grieving period, while simultaneously creating an inciting opportunity for James.

The Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Golden State Warriors were among the teams most frequently linked to James in the days leading up to his decision, and each offered a compelling case. Miami has Giannis Antetokounmpo. Cleveland offered the best storybook ending. And Golden State presented a chance that mirrored James’ final hurray with Stephen Curry at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

But those all paled in comparison to the Sixers. In Philadelphia, James can really stick it to Boston. He’s joining forces with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, V.J. Edgecombe and Brown — a once-beloved homegrown Celtic, who even in a Sixers uniform, will be incredibly difficult for Boston fans to root against.

That’s pure genius. Maniacal even.

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens set the wheels in motion. Regardless of the CBA’s role in moving on from Brown’s contract, Stevens still handed him to Philadelphia after failing to strike a deal for Giannis. Given the pressures already weighing on Stevens after trying to explain the Brown trade as a basketball move, Philadelphia, in a matter of weeks, became the best available catalyst for James. Not only does he get to return to a less demanding Eastern Conference, which he dominated in Miami and Cleveland for many years, but he’s also back on a loaded Sixers roster.

Next season, Philadelphia will be a problem. Even in his 40s with a gray beard, James still has plenty of value left in the tank — both as a player and a leader.

James has already debunked a handful of notions. He didn’t go after the money. He didn’t choose a destination that would allow him to shine the brightest. He took the route of signing with a Sixers team that hasn’t won a championship in 43 years, aware that it won’t be his train to conduct in what’ll be a demanding Philadelphia environment.

Rich Paul, his agent, had months to discuss and consider a plethora of options, so the two thought everything through. They understood that his next contract would be his last, and with six years gone in the wind without a single NBA Finals appearance, the best option would be to chase a title. So what better way to do so than to hand-pick the destination that’ll most hit close to home against his rival Celtics?

According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, Brown “worked with James directly” to help recruit the 22-time All-Star to Philadelphia.

Boston is still recovering from watching a 3-1 series lead against Philadelphia slip away this past postseason in May. Losing in seven games after blowing a 3-1 cushion for the first time in franchise history, followed by missing out on Giannis and parting ways with Brown, makes James’ arrival the latest blow in what has already been a painful Celtics offseason.

Optimism isn’t running high. The skepticism surrounding Stevens and ownership is well-deserved, but nothing would hit the fanbase like a semitruck more than seeing James and Brown hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy together next summer.

That would quite literally leave the thousands of fans who flood North Station questioning reality, asking themselves, “Is this real life, or am I stuck in some sick, twisted nightmare?”

The Celtics haven’t had to worry about James in any capacity ever since Jayson Tatum put him on a poster during the 2018 conference finals. But that hasn’t stopped Boston from holding itself back through a handful of no-shows under the bright lights, 13 playoff losses over the last four seasons, and an offensive philosophy that’s brought the coaching staff to questioning more than it’s rewarded the organization.

Aside from the Ime Udoka scandal, nothing has challenged Stevens more since stepping into the front office five years ago to replace Danny Ainge than this offseason.

Yet, somehow, someway, James found a way to pour an entire offseason’s worth of salt all over the wound — whether intentional or not.

As a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox, that alone could supersede anything Fenway Sports Group has put Boston through since the Mookie Betts trade.

Sometimes, a hater perfects their craft to the point where your only option is to tip your cap and hope for the best.

As soon as LeBron James made his stunning free agency decision to join the Philadelphia 76ers on a shockingly low contract, several league-wide questions became more relevant. 

Among them: will the 76ers attempt to trade for LeBron’s son, Lakers guard Bronny James?

What would a trade between the Lakers and the 76ers for Bronny even look like?

As the California Post previously reported, LeBron’s decision to leave the Lakers didn’t necessarily mean Bronny would join him on his next team.  

But if the 76ers want to make a deal for the 21-year-old guard entering his third NBA season, there are multiple directions they could go. 

A simple one: Bronny being traded for Dalen Terry or Jabari Walker and one of the several second-round picks the 76ers own (three in 2027 including their own, potentially three in 2028, their own in 2029, etc.).

Bronny is making $2.3 million in 2026-27 — less than both Terry ( non-guaranteed $2.6 million salary) and Walker ($2.6 million, $250,000 guaranteed) salary for next season. 

After acquiring Bronny, the 76ers would have to waive either Terry or Walker to get far enough under the first apron threshold they’re hard-capped at to sign LeBron. 

For the Lakers, they’d be able to acquire a real asset for Bronny (second-round pick) and could waive either Terry or Walker to have 15 players on their roster signed to standard NBA contracts with little to no impact on their cap sheet.

The Lakers could also trade Bronny into the 76ers’ $2.3 million trade exception they received when they traded Eric Gordon to the Grizzlies in February. But the 76ers would still have to trim their roster to make room for both LeBron and Bronny.

Since the Lakers drafted Bronny out of USC with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, making him and LeBron the first father-son duo in league history, the Lakers have developed the 6-foot-2 guard into a reliable shooter with defensive upside.

Bronny spent significant portions of his rookie and sophomore seasons with the Lakers’ G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers who have been rebranded as the Coachella Valley Lakers.

He improved significantly during his second season, upping his field goal percentage (50.5% from 41.9%), 3-point percentage (37.6% from 33.6%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (4:2.6 from 4.6:3.3).

Bronny played 42 regular season games for the Lakers in 2025-26, and was a full-time rotation player after Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves suffered their regular season-ending injuries. 

He averaged 5.6 points and shot 35.7% on 3s in the final 10 games of the regular season. 

Bronny also played in eight of the Lakers’ 10 playoff games, with the highlight being the 10 straight points he and LeBron scored during the second quarter of the Lakers’ Game 3 win in their first round series victory over the Rockets.

If the Lakers keep Bronny on the roster going into the season, he’s expected to compete with newcomer Collin Sexton, rookie Cameron Carr and recently-acquired Jaden Hardy for reserve backcourt minutes.

The Philadelphia 76ers have confirmed the signing of NBA superstar LeBron James.

James announced on Friday that he was joining the 76ers next season for what he says will be his final contract in the NBA.

The 41-year-old, the highest points scorer in the history of the league, left the Los Angeles Lakers after eight years last month.

"I am thrilled to welcome LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers," ownership managing partner Josh Harris said in a statement.

"One of the greatest players in NBA history and one of the best athletes ever, his accomplishments are iconic.

"I cannot wait to see LeBron alongside Jaylen Brown, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and our talented roster as we work to deliver a championship for Philly."

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat were also rumoured to be in the running for the four-time NBA champion.

"I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energise a new fanbase and start this incredible journey one last time," James said on X on Friday.

James has won an NBA title with all three teams he previously played for. He won two with Miami, who earlier this week mistakenly posted a link to an 'introductory press conference' for James.

A Heat spokesperson told Reuters the video was posted in error by staff who were preparing for the possibility of James rejoining the team he played for between 2010 and 2014.

Either side of that Miami stint, James had two spells with Cleveland, who drafted James in 2003 and are based near his hometown of Akron, Ohio.

"Miami I'll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always [be] home," James added.

James helped the Cavs become NBA champions in 2016 and joined the Lakers in 2018, claiming another NBA title two years later.

He has been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player four times, all between 2009 and 2013, and has been an NBA All-Star the last 22 seasons running.

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Why does James want to keep playing?

James said after last season that he was "pretty sure I [had] played my last game" but realised "I still truly love this game and I have more to give".

ESPN has reported that James has signed a two-year contract, with a player option for the second year, worth $8m (£6m). His average salary with the Lakers last season was $50.7m (£38m).

James added: "I'm not going for money. I'm not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point?

"I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship."

The 76ers reached the Conference semi-finals in last season's play-offs, where they lost to the eventual champions, the New York Knicks.

They have since acquired Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics, in exchange for Paul George and some future draft picks.

Caitlin Clark got a surprise just as many others on Friday afternoon.

While speaking to the media at WNBA All-Star weekend in Chicago, the Fever star was told LeBron James’ decision to team up with the 76ers next season.

Shocked, she immediately thought of her Indiana counterpart.

“No way! I just pitched him for the Pacers. It didn’t get to him fast enough,” she said.

“The 76ers? Wow. Wow. Seflishly I wanted the Warriors because Steph [Curry] and Bron would have been absolutely insane together but they have some serious talent on the 76ers. Arguably maybe one of the favorites in the East now with the Knicks and obviously my Pacers. But wow.”

Like many, Clark thought the 41-year-old would have chosen to go to Miami or Cleveland — a familiar destination and where he has previously won NBA championships.

However, James decided to take on a completely new challenge and will be teaming up with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, VJ Edgecombe and Jaylen Brown.

“That’s really shocking, but I’ll be watching more 76ers games and obviously I’m a big fan of Bron so no matter where he was going to go I was gonna probably cheer for that team and root for them,” Clark said. “I’m gonna go wait for the NBA schedule to come out and make sure I have my tickets reserved for when the 76ers come play the Pacers because those are always hard to get.

“Happy for him.”

James has been a big defender of the 2024 Rookie of the Year when she was just joining the WNBA after a historic college run with Iowa.

After Clark announced she would be out for the remainder of the 2025 season after enduring various injuries, the four-time MVP was quick to cheer her on towards a comeback.

“Minor setback for a MAJOR COMEBACK!!” James posted. “Rest up, get healthy and be YOU!”

He also backed her when Clark was receiving backlash from veteran WNBA players prior to entering the leauge, including when Diana Taurasi said a “reality check” was on the way for her.

“If you don’t rock with Caitlin Clark game you’re just a FLAT OUT HATER!!!!!” James posted on X in April 2024. “Stay far away from them people!! PLEASE.”

Clark has earned her third All-Star nod of her three years in the WNBA.

She is currently averaging 21 points and nearly eight assists per game on 43 percent shooting to help the Fever to their 17-10 record.

For the All-Star game on Saturday night, Clark is on Teresa Weatherspoon’s team along with Fever teammate Aliyah Boston, Olivia Miles, Jonquel Jones, and A’ja Wilson.

Getting LeBron James to Philadelphia was a team effort for the 76ers.

James’ next stop was finally revealed Friday, as he announced he was heading to Philly, and ESPN reported how several Sixers figures recruited him to join their team.

The Sixers came at him “from all angles”, with president of basketball operations Mike Gansey staying in “constant communication” with James’ agent, Rich Paul, according to Dave McMenamin.

Paul previously shared that his client’s priority in his next chapter was “basketball happiness”, which the Sixers reportedly interpreted in optimistic fashion for their chances of landing him.

The outlet also shared how Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and their new teammate Jaylen Brown made direct recruiting efforts towards James, with Maxey also being represented by Paul’s Klutch agency.

Those overtures were apparently a two-way street, as James, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, continuously reached out to players like Embiid and gave the organization “hope that they were still involved.”

James was also courted by at least one prominent person outside of the Sixers organization, as he reportedly ran into Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro earlier this month.

Peter Hamby reported for Puck that Shapiro was dining at private members club ZZ’s in New York with Bill and Hillary Clinton when James came over to chat with the group.

Shapiro then reportedly used the chance meeting to “lobby” James to the Sixers — and now James is heading to his fourth team.

James is signing with the Sixers on a two-year, $8 million deal with a player option.

It remains to be seen if the 41-year-old would really play another two years, and he admitted on X that he nearly called it quits after last season.

“I thought I was done when the season ended,” he wrote.

“I wasn’t ready to announce it, and I knew I needed some time to really decide, but I was pretty sure I played my last game. I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and deicide if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”

Now, James is back for at least another season, and he’ll try to add a fifth championship with the help of Maxey, Embiid, Brown and V.J. Edgecombe.

Should we have seen this coming all along? LeBron James knew that joining the Golden State Warriors would have been a losing gamble on the health of players five times closer to the ends of their careers than the beginnings. He knew the Cleveland Cavaliers, however strong their analytics, hopelessly lacked the unquantifiable greatness of a championship team. He knew the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Miami Heat were too unproven to hitch his wagon to.

Of course he knew.

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The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t necessarily the best team James could have chosen – I still think he could have soared the highest on the Minnesota Timberwolves (maybe that recruiting call from LaMelo Ball, or the prospect of riding shotgun with him, was just too off-putting) – but LeBron in Philly makes all the sense in the world.

Unlike the Heat, Cavs or Warriors, the 76ers figure to have some margin for disaster. The main concern is that Joel Embiid is hopelessly injury-prone, and despite James proving more injury-resistant than his 20-something co-stars last season in Los Angeles, nobody should be expecting durability from a man who turns 42 in December.

But Philly have enough talent that injuries may not prove catastrophic. There’s the dynamic Tyrese Maxey, who led the league in minutes per game this past season. There’s fellow 76ers newbie and former NBA finals MVP Jaylen Brown, whose much-disparaged efficiency could easily improve with this good a supporting staff. Twenty-year-old VJ Edgecombe should just keep getting better in his sophomore season.

Throw in James for 30 minutes a game to facilitate the offense, get Brown good shooting or driving looks, and take some of the playmaking burden off Maxey. In the games where Embiid’s ligaments decide not to violently betray him, their starting five could stack up against any team’s.

The decision, broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania and complete with a plug for agent Rich Paul’s podcast – I give it one more pivot to video before co-host credits start appearing on tombstones – is wonderfully LeBronian.

The Sixers were always a fascinating potential landing spot for James following his departure from the Lakers. They showed more upside than expected in beating the Boston Celtics from 3-1 down to begin the playoffs, then added Brown in the offseason. But they were hardly James’s expected destination.

The Heat seemed to have separated themselves from the pack, particularly when a social media editor with an itchy trigger finger posted a YouTube link titled “LeBron James Introductory Press Conference” scheduled for 27 July. The Cavs, with whom James began his career and had his finest moment in 2016, were the romantic choice. The Warriors offered a chance to play with Stephen Curry.

Leave it to LeBron to deny sentimentality in favor of a good basketball fit.

Can we talk about the money now? James signed an $8m, two-year deal with Philadelphia. That’s dramatically closer to what his benchwarming son is making on the Lakers than the $104m extension James signed with Los Angeles in 2024. It’s not that James doesn’t have an ego. He initially struggled to slot into the Lakers as the third option behind Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. The lede of an ESPN story in May depicted James walking out of Crypto.com Arena bitter over not being given the game ball on a night he became the player with the most wins in NBA history.

What’s remarkable is his ability to set aside that ego. His ethos of making the right play, not the play most conducive to individual glory, is unaffected by decades of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant hero-ball warping basketball discourse. James eventually embraced his third-option role and excelled at it. He accepted that he couldn’t have the money he felt he deserved or a championship-caliber team in Los Angeles. Say what you will about him milking this decision for all it was worth, but the way James has conducted his career has never been selfish at the cost of being correct.

This decision doesn’t suddenly vault the 76ers into a tier with the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder. We’ve yet to see them put together a hot streak as scalding or prolonged as the one that propelled the New York Knicks to a championship last month. James’s fit in Philly may look better on paper than in practice. Father Time could come for him with a new vengeance this season. Embiid’s knee may collapse with the force of a dying star.

But entering his age-42 season, with a Hall of Fame-worthy micro-career packed into each of his three previous stops, LeBron James has injected fresh intrigue into his new team and the league as a whole. What more could you ask for?

No, you aren’t dreaming. Lebron James is in fact going to be on the Philadelphia 76ers.

Now that you have had a moment to come down from the shock and initial excitement to the massive news, it’s time to think about what this actually means for the Sixers’ outlook in the upcoming 2026-27 season.

Some of the quickest to adjust expectations are the sportsbook odd makers, who waste no time calibrating odds in the face of major news like this, so let’s see what FanDuel Sportsbook thinks of the Sixers after this morning’s bombshell.

A major pattern throughout the odds updates is the Sixers being much closer to the reigning champion New York Knicks in winning probabilities than they were considered to be last season, last month, or even yesterday. They still are regarded less highly than a few of the powerhouses out of the Western Conference, but things are certainly looking up for the franchise.

Let’s take a peek.

Number of wins line: 50.5

As of Friday afternoon, the Sixers’ win line is now set at 50.5 wins for the 2026-27 regular season. That means, right now, FanDuel expects them to win 50 games, with roughly even odds for the over or the under of that line. The Sixers last won 50 or more games back in 2022-23, which earned them the No. 3 seed in the East that postseason before falling in the second round (many such cases).

To end up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference:

The Sixers are now considered tied with the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Pistons for the second-best odds to end up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference at +500 (5 to 1), behind only the New York Knicks (+310). Philadelphia last claimed the No. 1 East spot back in 2021 with a 49-23 record, making it to the second round of the playoffs before falling there to the Atlanta Hawks. Prior to that, they hadn’t claimed the No. 1 spot since back in the Allen Iverson era.

To advance to Eastern Conference Finals:

This is a big one. Being unable to get out of the second round has been the defining factor of recent Sixers history, with the issue hitting the level of feeling akin to a curse. The Sixers last made the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2000-01, led by Allen Iverson. Philly won that series before being defeated in the Finals that season, and have yet to return to the penultimate series since.

This season, their odds of making it to the ECF sit at +190 (or 1.9 to 1 odds) according to FanDuel. This

To win the NBA Championship:

The Sixers are now listed with the fourth-best odds in the association to win the NBA Championship in 2026-27 at +1000. For those of you that don’t bet, that’s 10-1 odds. Not too shabby, and puts them just behind the reigning New York Knicks in third at +900. There is a clear gap between them and the first and second place teams (OKC and SAS, respectively), with both Western Conference squads having odds stronger than +300.

As a lifelong Sixers fan, I don’t think I’d have ever complained about the Sixers being in a position to be considered 10-1 to win the title in the offseason. In fact, more often than not, their odds have been exponentially worse. We’ll take it.

All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook, reflecting odds at roughly 12:30 p.m. ET on July 24.

LeBron James picked the Philadelphia 76ers for his latest NBA free agency decision, and the move is already shifting the landscape of the entire league.

The league's all-time leading scorer announced on Friday, July 24, via social media that he's joining the Sixers in pursuit of another championship at the end of his historic career. It's a two-year deal worth $8 million, according to USA TODAY Sports, and gives Philadelphia two of the offseason's splashiest acquisitions. They also traded for former Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown earlier this month.

The addition of James and Brown has turned the 76ers into one of the NBA's leading title contenders heading into the 2026-27 season and they'll be the Eastern Conference team most likely picked to knock off the defending champion New York Knicks because of these moves.

Here's a breakdown of what the 76ers roster and projected starting lineup will look like now that they've acquired James, as well as an offseason grade for the team's front office:

LeBron James reportedly joining the Philadelphia 76ers is the latest development in the constantly evolving Eastern Conference. How this affects the big picture in the uber-competitive East is simple: Philadelphia is one of the favourites to come out of the East.

But how does this impact the Toronto Raptors? Their seven-game series against the 76ers defined the 2019 championship run, and a potential trilogy (remembering the 2001 series featuring Vince Carter and Allen Iverson) seems like it’s a realistic possibility.

Assuming Kawhi Leonard is traded to the Raptors, here’s how each team’s rotation looks:

Toronto

PG: Immanuel Quickley/Jamal Shead

SG: RJ Barrett/ Ja’Kobe Walter

SF: Kawhi Leonard/Collin Murray-Boyles

PF: Scottie Barnes/Kyle Anderson

C: Jakob Poeltl/Trayce Jackson-Davis

Philadelphia

PG: Tyrese Maxey/Labaron Philon Jr.

SG: VJ Edgecombe/Anfernee Simons

SF: Jaylen Brown/Dean Wade

PF: LeBron James

C: Joel Embiid/Adem Bona

Using these rosters – and acknowledging that should both organizations meet expectations and make ensuing trade deadline moves – let’s look at what advantages and issues the Raptors would have in a playoff matchup.

Starting lineup

As currently constructed, the 76ers boast one of the most complete starting lineups in recent memory. Offensively, they have the flexibility to hunt various matchups. The outside shooting isn’t necessarily elite, but they have enough firepower on the perimeter to get by. While it isn’t the most quantifiable stat, their starters have the stage presence to make big shots in high-pressure moments.

When healthy, Maxey and Embiid have always been a problem for the Raptors. Toronto still doesn’t have anyone on the roster to contain Maxey’s game-breaking speed and penetration, nor do they have the body to consistently contain Embiid.

What the Raptors do have is a duo best suited to negate the new additions of Brown and James. Even at 35-years-old, Leonard is more than capable of preventing Brown from taking over. While 76ers Head Coach Nick Nurse views James as a jumbo-wing hub, Barnes should have the advantage at this point in their respective careers regardless of scheme.

However, there should also be major concerns about what James does to unlock the off-ball versions of Maxey, Brown, and Edgecombe.

Despite the 76ers seemingly having the better starting five, they also have to deal with the best player on the court in Leonard. No one on their roster can guard Leonard and that matters in the post-season. Can Barrett knock down enough open shots when the 76ers rotate off him? Can Quickley hold his own defensively against Maxey without getting into foul trouble, so that he can be a threat on offence? Can Barnes continue his playoff ascension and dare James to prove that he still has enough in the tank?

Bench mob

During Game 7 of the 2019 playoff series, the Raptors opted for a strict seven-man rotation (Serge Ibaka played 29 minutes, while Fred VanVleet logged 15 minutes). Meanwhile, the 76ers deployed eight players. Assuming the DeMar DeRozan reunion falls through, it’s reasonable to project Shead, Walter and Murray-Boyles as the group that Raptors Head Coach Darko Rajakovic leans on.

Depending on what you value most off the bench, both the Raptors and 76ers have a case for the better unit. Toronto’s options are defensive stalwarts who are asked to be opportunistic scorers. While Philadelphia flaunts more offensively oriented players. Wade was unexpectedly annoying while guarding Brandon Ingram, but that won’t be an issue with Leonard.

There will also be fun minutes pitting Murray-Boyles against James, both in traditional and small-ball lineups. We’ll give the Raptors the slight edge in this department because of the flexibility that their bench offers.

Potential Needs

Raptors:

• Perimeter defence
• Big man (preferably one that can stretch the defence)
• Bench scoring

76ers:

• Perimeter defence
• Big man (extra bodies)