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Sure Sounds Like We’re Gonna Get Point Guard LeBron in Philly
By Matt Schultz
Published:
John Clark sat down with Nick Nurse to catch up on the new-look Sixers, and the Philadelphia head coach more or less confirmed what Shams reported on last week: LeBron James is going to be running some point guard this season:
“I think he’s an offense creator, right? He certainly is a guy that will bring the ball up the floor and try to create for himself or others. You know, really good for others, and I think it lends itself to that. Yeah… Tyrese, I keep saying how great a shooter he is, so he better be ready to catch and shoot some of those deep threes that he takes… Just being able to be versatile — other guys, putting them in different places – I think always is beneficial, too.”
Hell yeah. This is an exciting thought for a bunch of reasons. Here are three I’m thinking about right now:
Reducing Maxey’s Workload
It’s about damn time the Sixers took some work off Maxey’s plate. Nurse has been running him into the ground since he got here, especially during stretches when Joel’s injured, which has been pretty much all the time. The Sixers have needed Tyrese to score at an elite level every night while also bringing the ball up to start the offense. That’s a ton of work. Add in the fact that he’s led the league in minutes over the last two years (37.7 MPG in 2024-2025 and and 38 MPG in 2025-2026) and we’re talking about an absolutely brutal grind – and LeBron at point eases the problem in a huge way. Reducing miles on Maxey will (hopefully) keep him fresh and healthy, and allow him to focus on what he does best: scoring the ball.
Getting Maxey Easier Catch-and-Shoot Looks, Which He is Very Good at Knocking Down
We don’t talk about it that much because we don’t get to see it too often, but Tyrese is excellent off the catch. Last year he shot 41.6% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers compared to 36.2% on pull-up threes. Like Nurse mentioned, having LeBron bring the ball up should result in tons of easy catch-and-shoot looks for Maxey, and open up all kinds of possibilities for pin-downs and back-screens to get Tyrese those clean looks.
It’s Point Bron…
We’re not just talking about just any serviceable point guard stepping in to ease Maxey’s workload and get him better shots. We’re talking LeBron James. He’s one of the best passers to ever pick up a basketball. Remember 2020 when he went full Point Bron? Remember some of those passes he was throwing? To jog your memory:
And of course, like Nurse said, it doesn’t have to be LeBron at PG all the time; this is just a good option to have. The Sixers can play LeBron at point, or move him to his natural three or four, or run him out there at center if they want to play small ball and capitalize on their transition threats, which the roster is suddenly loaded with – last season, Maxey ranked first in the league in transition scoring (505 points), Jaylen Brown ranked third, (470 points), LeBron James was sixth (424 points), and VJ Edgecombe was 29th (323 points).
Imagine the Sixers having a flexible roster. Imagine the Sixers making adjustments based on matchups. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before in my life. Gonna be fun.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com