Maybe it was obvious already, or at least easy enough to speculate, but still, somehow it still hurts a little to hear new 76ers General Manager Mike Gansey confirm that the 76ers were only able to land LeBron James because the Celtics traded them Jaylen Brown. On Tuesday night, Gansey joined the booth during the Phillies broadcast on NBC Sports Philadelphia and spoke about signing James.
“I called Rich [Paul] right away and said, ‘Hey, like, we got Jaylen, is there a chance LeBron want[s] to come to us?’ And obviously they said, ‘yeah, you know, this changes some things’... It was a long process, but we don’t get LeBron without Jaylen, that’s for sure.”
This shouldn’t really come as a big surprise, as obviously, the team added a guy who just finished 6th in MVP voting a few months ago. That certainly raised the floor and ceiling for Philly and gave them an injection of certainty with a player in JB who can carry the team through the regular season with his durability and consistency and give LeBron and Joel Embiid a chance to stay fresh for the playoffs.
And yet, it’s still troubling to hear the Celtics’ rivals gloat about landing arguably the best player of all time on a minimum contract in free agency thanks to the Celtics handing them a recent Finals MVP and future Hall of Famer in his prime. No matter how you feel about the trade, that’s quite literally what the Celtics did, and it’s now inarguable that the move led directly to the signing of James.
Reality is that LeBron had no good options
Now, here’s the part where I talk Celtics fans off the ledge. Yes, Boston handed James to Philly. But that’s really only because the King didn’t have any great options. He already decided to leave Luka and the Lakers, his fit with Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen in Cleveland was awkward and uninspiring at best, the roster in Miami is a complete mess around Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounpmo (and that team would have no spacing), and he clearly didn’t want to go to Minnesota and mentor Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball.
He also clearly cared about his image and legacy and did not want to appear to be ring-chasing and join a front-runner, so that ruled out options like the Knicks, Spurs, and Thunder.
So, at the end of the day, James took what he felt was the option with the least risk, and that was Philadelphia. But the move still comes with a ton of risk. For one, he’s betting on Embiid to stay healthy and make it through four playoff series, which is something we’ve never been given any reason to believe.
76ers are far from a sure thing
He also will now be in a very talented starting lineup full of players who all thrive with the ball and lack true shooting and spacing threats off the ball. Again, there’s enough talent to make it work, and ultimately, that’s likely why James went for it, but the fit is far from perfect, and this could easily blow up in dramatic fashion.
And that’s the bigger point. There was no easy button for LeBron to push in free agency. No sure-fire contender to join. No team that offered him a clear path to contention and the storybook finish he craves. He had a bunch of flawed options, and he took the one that he found least offensive. The Celtics played a role, but at the end of the day, that’s no reason to avoid making a trade.
The only thing to do now is go out there and play inspired basketball, making sure to get in the way of this 76ers team and make sure that they don’t make Boston regret what they’ve done for years to come.
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