NEW YORK — LeBron James, just like always, walked to the scorer’s table.
And, just like always, he picked up the bottle of talcum powder, dusted a tiny bit off to his right and left sides, and then he caked his right hand. It was the same chalk toss, the same staccato claps and the same strut toward center court. The jarring difference, of course, was the bright blue uniform bearing PHILA across the chest.
It’s a new era, indeed.
James made his 76ers debut Thursday, Oct. 8 in Philadelphia’s second preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets, in which all five starters played together for the first time in a competitive game. And with that, coach Nick Nurse and the rest of the NBA world caught the first glimpse of the revamped Sixers, who wield arguably the best starting five in the world and who enter the 2026-27 season with massive expectations — championship ones.
And if this first look is indicative of where the 76ers are as a collective, it’s clear there are issues to smooth, like turnovers and slight miscommunications. But it’s undeniable that the offensive structure in place has the potential to ascend to the upper tiers of the league.
How did LeBron James do?
James, for the most part, served as point-forward, facilitating offense and deploying his exceptional vision to whistle passes all over the floor. At this stage of his career, it’s what he does best.
The 76ers missed their first shot of the game, a 14-foot turnaround jumper from Joel Embiid. After that, Philadelphia converted its next 7 field goal attempts. By that point, James had not put up a single shot; he had, however, dished out 3 assists by then.
James made his only shot attempt but drained all 8 free throw attempts to finish with 10 points — second-most among starters and behind All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey’s 14 — 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 turnovers. All 5 assists came in the first quarter.
“It’s a small sample size, and we’re still trying to learn each other on the floor,” James told reporters after the game. “We’re still trying to put each other in the position to be successful and complement each other the best way we can on the floor. But it’s going to take some time.”
When given a crease, James was aggressive in attacking the basket, though everything was under control. He played his game, patiently waited for players to get open.
The luxury Nurse now has is three superb ball-handlers in James, Maxey and shooting guard VJ Edgecombe. Each can initiate actions, though Brown and Embiid are both more than capable of effective spurts of on-ball play.
“Some good, some bad,” Nurse told reporters when asked to characterize the play of his starting unit. “Good to get them out there for the first time. Obviously, it’s kind of what the preseason is for. I think there was some really good things happening right off the bat; some back cuts and good passing, et cetera.
“But then I think there were segments where we turned the ball over a lot, which we can never do. A little clunky in segments, too, but it’s preseason. First time they’re together.”
What 76ers still need to work on
Despite that abundance of creators, turnovers and timing plagued Philadelphia, which committed 14 turnovers in the first half, against only 12 assists on 16 made field goals. For Philadelphia to compete, that figure is way too high, and it turned into 16 Nets points off of those turnovers, seven of which were on Embiid.
They were most often the product of crowded spacing, passes slightly off target, or slight timing misjudgments, all of which should be corrected with time. After all, this group is still learning how to play together, and it’s requiring some players — Brown, chief among them — to adapt to entirely new roles.
Though Embiid, Brown and Edgecombe were on the floor to start the second half, James and Maxey were not. None of the five starters played the fourth quarter as the Nets went on to win 114-108.
In the first half, the 76ers made 57.1% of their shots, and it became clear that Nurse wants this group to play with space, looking for outlets on skipahead passes to compromise the opposing transition defense.
If there was any play that flashed the promise of this experiment, it came just minutes into the game.
Maxey brought up the ball and slipped to the right wing before delivering a behind-the-back bounce pass to Embiid, who was at the top of the key. Embiid fielded the pass, but quickly skipped it over to James, who was on the left wing. James carved his way into the lane and zipped a no-look bounce pass to Edgecombe, who was cutting along the baseline: wide open dunk.
It wasn’t even a set play, and all the communication was nonverbal.
“It’s just all a read,” Edcombe said. “When there’s someone like (James) who demands so much gravity and attracts so much attention, I just have to play off him. … We made eye contact, and I went to the rim.”
As long as the Sixers can play like that, fluidly and decisively, with clean passes, they might just live up to their massive expectations.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LeBron James, 76ers' loaded starting 5 play preseason game: Did we learn anything?
