Sixers

The Sixers Won 24 Games Two Seasons Ago – is This the Quickest/Most Dramatic Sports Turnaround Ever?

By Matt Schultz

Published: Jul 24th, 2026 · 1:15 PM EDT

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LeBron James is signing with the Sixers. LeBron picked Philly. LeBron James will be playing for the Philadelphia basketball team. It’s an insane thought. I’m having some trouble wrapping my head around this thing. I’m trying to write through it. Gonna have to keep on trying. This will be a process. Trust The Process. LeBron Trusts The Process. Yes. Yes… This is nuts man lmao:

BREAKING: LeBron James is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal with a player option, Klutch Sports Group and Klutch CEO and Game Over show host Rich Paul tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/ALOlTkgdAV

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 24, 2026

another championship.

I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.  

Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!

🙏🏾🫡👑

— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 24, 2026

There’s a ton to get to, but before we chug too far ahead, I think it’s worth remembering how we got here. The struggle. The endless uphill slog… I’m not going to recount the whole Process. I don’t have the time right now. I’m talking just the last two-ish years alone. Think about where the Sixers were even 18 months ago. Think about just how bleak things were very, very recently. Think about the season before last season. Remember that? Remember that hell? Let me help you out:

In the 2024-2025 NBA season, the Sixers went 24-58. They missed the playoffs. Injuries limited Joel Embiid to just 19 games. He looked absolutely ancient and cooked and his new max contract hadn’t even started. The Sixers had just signed Paul George to the max. He spent the year hobbled by multiple left knee hyperextensions, bone bruises, a left pinkie finger tendon injury, and a left adductor/groin strain. He only played 41 games. He looked absolutely ancient and cooked and had four years left on his contract. Between the two of them, Daryl Morey had nine more years of max-contract money committed to two ultra-washed-looking guys who never played. 

The Sixers were old. They were expensive. They had some of the worst contracts in the league. They had no flexibility. No hope. No shot. 

They were fucked…

Then, somehow, everything changed. Just one season removed from that unrelenting nightmare of despair, the Sixers drafted phenom V.J. Edgecombe, won a first-round series against the Celtics after falling behind 3-1, saw Tyrese Maxey make an All-NBA team, fired Morey, hired apparent-genius Mike Gansey, offloaded the George contract, added 2026 sixth-place MVP finisher Jaylen Brown, and signed LeBron James – arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, who last season averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 51.5% from the field.

What a turnaround. That’s an all-time turnaround. Is it the best/fastest Philly team turnaround ever? Is it the best/fastest turnaround in any sport, full-stop? I don’t know. I have to think about all this. I don’t have time right now. I have other LeBron thoughts to think about. I’ll report back with those soon. 

LeBron James is signing with the Sixers. LeBron picked Philly. LeBron James will be playing for the Philadelphia basketball team. Still tough to get my arms around this thing. But I will Trust The Process… Like LeBron…. insane lol.