The Philadelphia 76ers are making a strong case as a potential destination for would-be free agent LeBron James next summer with their recruiting pitch built around their promising young roster led by once-in-generation talents like Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
The process is finally paying off for the Sixers this season, as a 34-28 slate put this exciting team in position to end their six-year playoff drought. But Philly could be in for much bigger things with free agency just around the corner . James, arguably the best basketball player in this generation, has a big decision ahead of him, and the Sixers, armed with the cap space to sign a max-level player, would play a huge factor to his future plans.
The guys from ESPN’s The Jump discussed the possibility of the Sixers adding LeBron to their young core this summer. Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady is skeptical of this scenario, believing that LeBron would not complement Simmons’ skills-set in vice-versa in the sense that they both demand the ball in their hands to operate. McGrady added that the absence of an outside game in Simmons also hurts the Sixers chance of adding the four-time NBA MVP because it would just present spacing issues.
Veteran NBA insider Ramona Shelburne, on the other hand, had a different take on the Sixers’ pursuit of James. While Shelburne stressed that Paul George best fits with the Sixers’ system, she also likes their chance of bolstering up their lineup to a whole new level this summer by adding LeBron and possibly another superstar named Kawhi Leonard.
Shelburne said the Sixers have the assets to make a run at Leonard, whose relationship with the San Antonio Spurs took a big hit following the mishandling of his quad injury. The ESPN insider believed that a trade package consists of 2017 No. 1 pick Markelle Fultz, former Rookie of the Year finalist Dario Saric, and possibly the Lakers’ 2018 first pick would get the ball rolling in a potential landscape-changing trade involving perhaps the most dominant two-way player in the NBA today.
Many GMs around the league have been salivating on a Kawhi-LeBron team-up, but only a few teams have the assets and cap space to pull off such seismic transactions. Outside the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, the Sixers have the deepest stash of tradable assets, thanks to the efforts of former GM Sam Hinkie and the incumbent GM Bryan Colangelo.
Philadelphia is very much capable of trading for a bona fide superstar; however, several things need to happen in order for this dream scenario to materialize. First, the Spurs would have to get confirmation from Leonard (unrestricted free agent in 2019) that he is no longer committed to the team moving forward. San Antonio has unlimited options when it comes to trading their star, but only a handful of teams could beat the Sixers’ package of Fultz, Saric, and the Lakers 2018 first rounder (a potential top-five pick). Second, the Sixers need to attach another player (Jerryd Bayless’ $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season) to match salaries. Lastly, Philly would have to put up an irresistible recruiting pitch better than the Lakers, Rockets, and Cavs to have a lick of a chance in landing LeBron.
Jason McIntyre of USA Today’s blog The Big Lead pointed out that nobody in the NBA paying more attention to Leonard’s saga with the Spurs than James. He added that the Cavs star would be intrigued to join forces with his former arch-nemesis back in the Heat-Spurs rivalry days especially after losing an All-Star sidekick in Kyrie Irving last summer.
As of the moment, the Kawhi-LeBron-Simmons-Embiid super-team is nothing more than a pure fiction. Then again, the status quo could drastically change in the offseason, where landscape-changing transactions usually take place. The Sixers are in the process of becoming a dynasty, and right now the future looks brighter for this ballclub.
