Four Stars, One Basketball: The Sixers Bet Everything on Right Now

CAMDEN — I grew up eight minutes from where the Sixers practice, and I have watched this franchise break my heart in just about every way a basketball team can. So understand what it means when I tell you that walking past the training complex on the Camden waterfront yesterday, with LeBron James inside pulling on a Sixers uniform for the first time, felt less like a dream and more like a dare.

They are all here now. James, Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey — four All-Stars on one roster, with young VJ Edgecombe rounding out a starting five that reads like a video game somebody left the cheat codes on. Training camp opens today. Media day was yesterday, and when James sat down at the podium and tossed his name placard aside, he grinned and gave the quote that’s already all over South Jersey group chats: “You guys know who I am, right?”

Yeah. We know. That’s exactly what worries me, and exactly what thrills me.

The deal and the head start

Let me be clear-eyed about this, because being a serious fan means not being a sucker. James signed a two-year, $8 million deal in July — a bargain number that only happens when a 40-something legend decides the ring matters more than the check. He said Maxey, an old friend, and the chance to hand Embiid his first title were the reasons. Embiid, whose knees have been the region’s collective anxiety for a decade, was on the floor Monday getting up shots alongside James, Brown and Maxey before media day even started. Chemistry, they’re calling it. A head start.

But here’s the thing every barbershop from Camden to Cherry Hill already knows: there is only one basketball. You can put four guys on the marquee who’ve all spent their careers being the option, and somebody is going to have to swallow their pride on a Tuesday night in January when the shots aren’t falling. That’s not a talent question. That’s a human one. And human questions are the ones that decide seasons.

I’ve watched Embiid carry this franchise on a bad knee and a heavier heart. I’ve watched Maxey grow up in front of us, from a kid who couldn’t crack the rotation into a foundational South Jersey favorite who plays every possession like the lease is due. Asking those two to fold in a 40-year-old king and a two-way star in Brown who’s used to being the alpha in Boston — that’s the whole gamble. It works if they mean the sacrifice they’re all promising into the microphones this week. It falls apart the first time somebody decides a stat line matters more than a win.

The window

What I keep coming back to is the window. This isn’t a build. There’s no five-year plan here, no lottery patience. James is 41. Embiid’s body has a clock on it you can practically hear ticking. This roster was assembled to win a championship in the next 20 months or be remembered as the most expensive what-if in franchise history. There is no version of this where they’re pretty good and everyone shrugs. It’s a banner or it’s a cautionary tale.

It’s a banner or it’s a cautionary tale.Samuel Banks

For a region that lives and dies with its teams — that treats Embiid’s health like a family member’s — that’s a terrifying and beautiful place to be. We’ve spent years being told to trust the process. Now there’s no process left to trust. There’s just a basketball, four men who’ve never had to share one, and a season that starts today.

I’ll be there when it does. Iced black coffee in hand, hope and dread in equal measure, the way any Camden kid learns to watch the teams he loves. They told us who they are. Now they have to show us they can be it together.

Based on reporting from 6abc Philadelphia, Sports Illustrated, HoopsHype and Last Word on Sports.