Can Sixers newcomers LeBron James and Jaylen Brown save Philadelphia sports?
King James and his crown prince on Thursday begin a 41-game residence at Xfinity Mobile Arena, a distraction from the dismal outlooks of the Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers.
There has seldom been a year of greater misery and disappointment in Philadelphia sports than 2026.
Between the injuries and illnesses, retirements and trades, good firings and bad hirings, it seems as if a bombshell drops every afternoon, all of which paint dire pictures for futures both near and far.
It’s not over yet. Things keep getting worse. But there is a glimmer of light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.
King James and his crown prince, Jaylen Brown, are here to salvage what’s left of the year.
On Thursday night, the best things that have happened for the Sixers since Moses Malone’s arrival in 1982 take the stage at Xfinity Mobile Arena for the first time.
» READ MORE: LeBron James’ subtle impact and ability to see ‘things before it happens’ help Sixers beat Knicks in his debut
LeBron James, the most versatile, productive, and enduring player in NBA history, will debut in Philadelphia as a 76er. He is here by choice. Brown, the most dynamic Sixers wing since Julius Erving, is here because Boston cast him off.
Their presence has transformed the Sixers from a 13-year punchline into a rock-solid title contender.
In May, the Sixers were swept out of the playoffs on a home court infested by visiting fans. They had fired their president. Their future consisted of at least two more seasons of aged, fragile Paul George, consistently injured and underachieving Joel Embiid, and the hope that their young backcourt could keep them out of the draft lottery.
Marcus Hayes alerts
By the end of July, they had King James and his crown prince. They are determined. They are motivated. And they are both astonishingly good.
Thursday will be a most momentous evening.
The Sixers already started their season, and deliciously so. They won 106-100 in New York on Tuesday, spoiling the Knicks’ championship banner game and rendering ridiculous their special-edition, gold-trimmed uniforms.
But Thursday will be different. It will be intimate. It will be Philly.
For the first time in a non-exhibition game, James will perform his chalk toss and shower announcer Matt Cord in his trademark white cloud of bravado — Cord, who unretired in order to be a part of James’ first season in Philly.
» READ MORE: Sixers are bringing back longtime PA announcer Matt Cord
Why would Cord delay his dotage after 28 years courtside? Because James, in 23 seasons, has been an All-Star 22 times, won both the NBA MVP award and the NBA championship four times, and has scored more points than anybody, ever.
It will be glorious. Cord wants a piece of the glory. Cord wants a piece of the joy. Who can blame him?
It will, for at least one night, lighten a mood in a city lately darkened by wasted seasons, bad luck, and bad news.
The Eagles
The Birds in 2025 failed to even approach defending their Super Bowl title, mainly because their offense stunk, crashing out of the playoffs with a wild-card home loss. They fired another offensive coordinator and, despite a glut of accomplished OCs on the market, they settled for young, inexperienced, overmatched Sean Mannion because none of the good ones wanted to deal with the Howie Roseman/Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts triad.
As it turned out, the coordinator position was the least of their worries.
A.J. Brown, the best receiver in franchise history, forced a trade in June. Lane Johnson, the best offensive lineman in franchise history, retired after Game 4. Center/guard Cam Jurgens played so poorly that he was traded after Game 4. A raft of injuries have crippled the club, chief among them running back Saquon Barkley; in fact, the top four running backs missed Game 6.
The saga of Hurts, the Eagles franchise quarterback, and his hematology is the talk of the sports world. Hurts will likely miss the rest of the season after blood clots traveled to his lungs. The mishandling of that imbroglio, from minimizing the initial injury to a pair of incomplete statements as Hurts’ conditioned worsened, cast a shadow on both the team’s profile and the team’s prospects.
The Birds have lost four straight games for the first time since 2020, and they host the rival Cowboys on Monday Night Football. By then, with home games Thursday against the Cavaliers and Sunday against the Pistons, the Sixers could be 3-0 against three of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Eagles can only hope.
The Phillies
The Phillies ate $38 million in salary when they released veterans Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker, then fired manager Rob Thomson after a 9-19 start. The offense sputtered. The bullpen spent more time on the injured list than on the mound. Trea Turner, the $300 million shortstop, had his worst season; 2025 PED cheat José Alvarado was unusable out of the bullpen by the time the playoffs arrived; and former closer prospect Orion Kerkering, whose error ended the Phillies’ season in 2025, got demoted to triple A.
They traded for an elite hitter at the deadline, Luis Arráez, who got hurt and missed the playoffs, which wound up being a three-game wild-card formality, anyway.
Like Roseman in his pursuit for an OC, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski had to deal with repeated rejection. He twice tried to hire Alex Cora to replace Thomson, both during the season and afterward, but Cora turned him down both times. Dombrowski both times settled for promoted bench coach Don Mattingly.
After a fifth playoff appearance, the Phillies’ window is closing. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Turner, J.T. Realmuto, Aaron Nola, and even reliever Tim Mayza will be 30 or older next season, if that even matters.
The players union and owners are at a salary-cap impasse in negotiations of a new CBA, which expires Dec. 1. There is likely to be a work stoppage. On March 24, the day before the Phillies’ scheduled opener in Washington, the Sixers will be getting ready to play Steph Curry in Golden State.
Given the way the hockey team began the season, the Sixers might be the only thing anybody cares about in Philly.
The Flyers
Last spring, first-year coach Rick Tocchet pushed a ragtag, mismatched roster to the playoffs, upset the hated Penguins in six games, then got swept by Carolina, the eventual champion. Still, the Flyers entered October optimistic … and lost their first nine games, the worst start in franchise history.
They’ve got a slew of injuries, their power play still stinks, and teams with such slow starts seldom reach the playoffs.
The Flyers were playoff darlings at the end of April, but this time, the Sixers will likely have the postseason spotlight all to themselves.
The Sixers
Remarkably, the Sixers have had the best year of all. It’s a low bar, but still.
They upset the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Tyrese Maxey was an MVP candidate. Rookie guard VJ Edgecombe was a revelation. Embiid was healthy by the season’s end; as such, for the first time in years, he had an easier path to fitness over the summer and reported to camp slimmer than ever.
Even getting swept by the Knicks in the second round carried unintended beneficial consequences. It led to the firing of president Daryl Morey, which, while unfair, at least indicated that owner Josh Harris wasn’t completely distracted by the Commanders, his NFL team, and the Devils, his NHL team.
» READ MORE: Sielski: The Sixers’ victory over the Knicks showed what they have to do to win big: Leave their past behind
It also convinced James to come to the Sixers, because the Knicks no longer were desperate for the relevance and title James might deliver.
James and Brown deliver more than just relevance and hope. They deliver leadership and maturity.
They are the most professional pair of frontline players since Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala, whose talents fall far short of the King and his crown prince but whose dedication took the Sixers in 2012 as far as they’ve been in the past 25 years.
It doesn’t matter that James and Brown fell into the Sixers’ laps. The Celtics needed Brown out of Boston the way the Windsors needed Harry to move to Canada.
LeBron wanted to land somewhere he would be revered like a monarch with so much swag that he commissioned the most popular translation of the Bible.
Who can blame him?
Beat reporters Gina Mizell and Chris Hine break down their most intriguing quotes from LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey during the preseason, along with what they most hope to learn about this revamped roster during the first month of the season. Watch here.
Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Sixers Extra podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
