Did the 76ers Do Enough to Rival the Knicks in the East?

The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t just have a busy offseason. They had a statement offseason.

After finishing 45-37 last season and watching the New York Knicks win their first NBA championship since 1973, Philadelphia had to make changes. Instead of simply adding another role player or two around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers went all in.

On paper, it’s one of the most impressive offseason transformations in the NBA. But there’s a difference between getting better and becoming better than the defending champions. Did Philadelphia do enough to rival the Knicks in the East?

Philadelphia Went All In

The biggest move of the summer came when Philadelphia sent Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown. That’s not a minor upgrade.

Brown is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 28.7 points per game, and he now joins a Philadelphia roster that already features Embiid and Maxey.

The Sixers essentially decided that the George experiment wasn’t working and replaced him with a younger, two-way star who can create his own offense while also defending at a high level.

Brown’s contract isn’t small, either, with three years and $182.9 million remaining, but Philadelphia clearly believes he’s worth that commitment.

The Sixers weren’t interested in making another incremental improvement. They wanted another star, and they got one.

Then came the move that made the entire basketball world stop: LeBron James is now a Philadelphia 76er.

James signed a two-year, $8 million contract, giving Philadelphia perhaps the most experienced player in NBA history to add alongside its existing stars.

At 41, LeBron isn’t the player he was in his prime, but the Sixers aren’t asking him to be. They are asking him to provide another elite playmaker, scorer and leader on a team that suddenly has an incredible amount of talent.

That kind of addition changes the way opponents have to prepare for Philadelphia. A team that already had to account for Embiid and Maxey now has to deal with Brown and James, too.

Even if LeBron is no longer capable of carrying a team for an entire season, asking him to contribute as the fourth offensive option on a contender is a completely different proposition.

Even the Supporting Cast Got Better

The Sixers didn’t stop with Brown and James, and that’s what makes their offseason particularly interesting.

Philadelphia signed Anfernee Simons to a two-year, $12.3 million deal, giving the team another explosive scorer who can create offense when Embiid, Brown or Maxey are off the floor.

Dean Wade received a four-year, $38.7 million contract and should provide the size, shooting and defensive versatility that becomes extremely valuable in the playoffs.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was also added on a one-year, $3.9 million deal, bringing championship experience and another reliable perimeter defender to the roster.

Ariel Hukporti signed for one year and $3.4 million, while Caleb Love joined the team on a two-way contract. Those moves won’t headline any championship parade, but they matter when evaluating the roster as a whole.

Philadelphia isn’t simply relying on four stars to carry the team anymore. It has surrounded them with players who can fill specific roles and make life easier for the stars when the postseason arrives.

That’s important because the Sixers’ problem in recent years hasn’t simply been a lack of star power. They’ve struggled to put enough quality talent around their stars to survive an entire playoff run. This offseason attacked that issue directly.

The Knicks Set the Standard

Philadelphia’s problem is that it isn’t trying to out-talent an average playoff team.

It’s trying to catch the defending NBA champions.

New York just went 53-29 before winning the championship in five games over San Antonio, with Jalen Brunson taking home Finals MVP. The Knicks aren’t entering this season wondering whether their roster can compete for a championship. They already know it can.

And, perhaps most importantly, they’re running it back.

Brunson returns as the Finals MVP and undisputed leader of the franchise. Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart remain major pieces of the championship core, giving New York the continuity that Philadelphia simply can’t replicate yet.

That’s the biggest advantage the Knicks have. Chemistry can’t be signed in free agency, and experience on the team can’t be acquired through a trade. New York already knows what its championship formula looks like. Philadelphia has to figure out how Embiid, Maxey, Brown and LeBron fit together.

That’s a very different challenge.

The Biggest Question: Can it All Fit?

Talent isn’t Philadelphia’s problem anymore. Fit might be.

Brown averaged 28.7 points last season while taking 21.7 shots per game. Now he’ll be sharing the floor with Embiid, Maxey and LeBron, three other players who are accustomed to having the ball in their hands.

Somebody is going to have to sacrifice, whether that’s Brown’s scoring, Maxey’s touches or LeBron’s role as a primary creator. That doesn’t mean the combination can’t work. In fact, if Philadelphia gets it right, it could be terrifying.

Embiid can dominate the interior, Maxey can attack in transition and create off the dribble, Brown can provide two-way production on the wing, and LeBron can operate as a facilitator who picks his spots as a scorer. On paper, there are plenty of ways to make the pieces fit.

The challenge is making it work when the games matter most.

Philadelphia’s coaching staff will have to establish clear roles and balance four players who have spent their careers as major offensive focal points. It could take time, and the Sixers won’t have the luxury of spending an entire season experimenting if they’re trying to finish ahead of New York in the standings.

The Knicks, meanwhile, don’t have that problem. Their players already know where they fit, who gets the ball in certain situations and what their responsibilities are when the game is on the line.

Health Could Decide Everything

Then there’s the biggest question surrounding Philadelphia: Joel Embiid.

When healthy, Embiid gives the Sixers a matchup nightmare that very few teams can solve. Add Brown and LeBron to that equation, and Philadelphia could have arguably the most talented group of top-end players in the conference.

But talent doesn’t matter much if it isn’t available when the playoffs arrive.

Philadelphia needs Embiid healthy. It needs LeBron healthy. It needs Brown and Maxey healthy. That’s a lot of variables for one team to manage, particularly when two of its biggest stars have dealt with significant durability concerns at different points in their careers.

The Knicks have their own health concerns, but their roster has already proven it can withstand the physical demands of a championship run. New York just went through an entire postseason and came out the other side with a championship, giving the organization a level of confidence in its roster that Philadelphia doesn’t yet have.

If both teams are fully healthy in May, however, the talent gap could be fascinating. A playoff series between these two teams would feature stars at nearly every position and could quickly become one of the league’s most anticipated matchups.

Verdict: Better, but Not Better Than New York

Yes, the 76ers did enough to rival the Knicks.

They may have done more than enough.

Replacing Paul George with Jaylen Brown, adding LeBron James for just $8 million, and surrounding Embiid and Maxey with players like Simons, Wade and Caldwell-Pope completely changes Philadelphia’s ceiling.

This isn’t the same Sixers team that finished 45-37 last season, and it would be foolish to look at their roster and not consider them one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference. But that’s different from saying Philadelphia is better than New York.

The Sixers have closed the gap. They may have even made it a legitimate race. But until Philadelphia proves it can take down the team currently sitting atop the East, the road to the NBA Finals still runs through Madison Square Garden.