Would LeBron James Consider the Sixers?
LeBron James made some waves last night in Las Vegas, showing up to attend a game at the Thomas & Mack Center, sitting court-side to watch the Sixers and Lakers NBA Summer League game.
So was the king just taking a game in during the long summer, or was he there for other reasons?
A team like the young Sixers, with tons of young talent, that could help prolong the career of an older veteran, coupled with ample cap space to afford not one, but two star players.
McIntyre wrote an article at the Big Lead about the future of James. He went through all 30 NBA salary cap situations to see which teams will have the necessary cap space to pursue LeBron James (and most likely a friend) in July 2018?
McIntyre came up with these three teams as the best fits, cap-wise, for James (and his friend).
The Lakers (best situation), the Celtics (unsure if he’d want
to go there) and believe it or not, the Philadelphia 76ers.
When writing about the Sixers, here is what McInture wrote:
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
A team that has been tanking for four seasons? We can start this discussion here – if the 76ers are healthy this season and win 45-50 games and win a round in the playoffs, eyes will perk up around the NBA. The potential is there for this team to be very good, very quickly.
The health issue is large, obviously, and the strides they make this season are paramount to any LeBron-to-Philly discussion. But two enormous points that must be considered: 1) The East is certainly weaker than the West, and LeBron could waltz to the Conference Finals with the 76ers; 2) They’ll have enormous amounts of salary cap room next summer. They currently have 0 bad contracts on the books. They have excellent young assets if they need to create room (say, trading Jeryd Bayless, Jahlil Okafor and Dario Saric) for LeBron and a friend.
Not to harp on the health issue, but Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid could be a very dominant duo next year, and then you toss in Markelle Fultz and you’ve got a lethal trio.
So Sixers fans, would you want to sign LeBron James next summer? Do you think he would even consider coming to Philadelphia?
Here is my conversation with McIntyre about the potential of James considering the Sixers: