LeBron James is set to play point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers next season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, a role he has not held full time since the year he last won a title.
The report landed just days after James stunned the league by signing with Philadelphia on a two year deal worth roughly $8 million, a move he framed as his last decision after seriously weighing retirement and walking away from the Lakers. Now the plan for how the 76ers intend to use him is coming into focus, and it is a throwback. Charania reports that Philadelphia wants LeBron James running the offense as its primary facilitator for significant stretches, putting the ball in his hands and letting everyone else play off him.
That is not where most people expected a soon to be 42-year-old to line up. James turns 42 on December 30, and he is coming off a season with the Lakers where he made his 22nd straight All-Star Game and averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds across 60 games.
The last time LeBron James played the point full time was the 2019-20 season, when he led the entire NBA at 10.2 assists per game and carried the Lakers to their first championship in a decade. That remains the only season in his long career that he either led the league in assists or averaged double figures in the category, which is a reminder that when he commits fully to setting the table, he does it better than almost anyone alive. Philadelphia is betting that version of him still exists.
What makes the fit interesting is the talent around him. The 76ers can surround LeBron James with three scorers on the wing in Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Jaylen Brown, plus former MVP center Joel Embiid in the middle. That is a lineup built for a facilitator, and it lets him pick defenses apart rather than carry the scoring load himself. The most obvious payoff is the pairing with Embiid. A LeBron and Embiid pick and roll, with shooters spaced around them, is the kind of action that gives opposing coaches headaches before the season even starts.
There is also a clean answer to the question everyone asks first, which is what happens to Maxey. He has been Philadelphia’s primary point guard for most of his six year career, but he has thrived off the ball before. During James Harden’s only full season in Philadelphia in 2022-23, Maxey played next to a ball dominant guard and posted 20.3 points a game while shooting a career high 43.4 percent from three. Sliding him back into that role next to LeBron is not a demotion so much as a return to a setup that already produced some of his best basketball.
For head coach Nick Nurse, the appeal is flexibility. With LeBron James able to run the point, Nurse can stagger his stars, keep a facilitator on the floor when Maxey rests, and even experiment with James at center in stretches when Embiid sits. At 6 foot 9 with the vision he has always had, he gives Nurse lineup combinations that most teams simply cannot copy. It also puts two former Finals MVPs at the forward spots, since Jaylen Brown won the award in 2024 and James has multiple, which is a rare kind of frontcourt firepower.
One more subplot worth noting is that the move likely ends the idea of LeBron playing alongside his son. Bronny James was widely expected to follow his father wherever he landed, but with his dad now in Philadelphia and the Lakers reportedly wanting to keep Bronny, the two playing together next season looks unlikely.
