Sixers

Ranking Philadelphia’s Top Five Free Agent Signings Since 2000

By Nick Piccone

Published: Jul 27th, 2026 · 10:00 AM EDT

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Have you heard? LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er. It’s real. It’s damn real.

The Sixers have gone through quite a transformative offseason. I think most of us assumed Daryl Morey would return as the general manager, and we started talking ourselves into bringing in marginal guys to hopefully help Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe. Oh yeah, and Joel Embiid.

Morey was fired, Mike Gansey was hired, and he started to cook. Those “marginal” guys we thought they might add turned into Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. Gansey also signed Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons, drafted Labaron Philon Jr., and is adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Not only has the starting lineup improved, but the bench depth is already better. And there will still be moves made before the season starts.

James’ signing got me to thinking about the best Philly free agent additions in the last 25+ years (that sounds better than 26 years, right?). Each team has gone through their own respective rough patches during this time, but there have also been some signings out of nowhere that instantly rejuvenated the respective fan bases.

5. Cliff Lee

I first created a Twitter account in 2009, but Facebook was still the premiere social media destination at the time. It wasn’t until 2011, when I started blogging about Philly sports (Bleeding Brotherly Love/Bleed Philly fans stand up), when I began to utilize Twitter on a more daily basis. If only I was surfing Twitter on December 14, 2010, when Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies, I would have been exposed to Philly Twitter long before the blogging days. Instead, I kept refreshing MLB Trade Rumors, which would update their running posts with a sentence and link to the latest tweet sent out by a baseball reporter/insider. Smart stuff by me. But man, the adrenaline rush I felt when reading the Phillies were bringing back one of the greatest pitchers I’d ever seen in person not only for one year, but five, was incredible. I went to Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the 2009 World Series and saw his complete game masterpiece in person. As I left the stadium, Yankees fans were completely deflated. After hours of being yelled at in the face and bumped into “accidentally,” it felt like quite the victory lap when fans were saying, “You guys are gonna win in five” while walking out. I loved Cole Hamels, but I really loved Cliff Lee. He made it look so effortless. Complete game here. Complete game there. Complete game in Game 1 of the freakin’ World Series. At Yankee Stadium. And then… traded. Then he wanted to come back in free agency. What a ride.

4. Jim Thome

Bryce Harper may have brought baseball back to Philly in 2019, but Jim Thome also did so in 2003. It was the first big free agent signing I remember as a fan. I didn’t even know what free agency was in 1993, but the biggest stars I had seen the Phillies sign were guys like Gregg Jefferies, Benito Santiago, Rico Brogna, Ron Gant, and José Mesa. I knew all the names because I was a baseball diehard, but none of those names brought baseball back. Maybe it was because they weren’t moving into a new stadium just yet. Maybe Gant smashing dingers at a Citizens Bank Park would have been as beautiful as Thome doing it. Jefferies certainly would have smashed more than 16 dingers at The Bank, right? Thome ended the long nightmare for me, because when you’re a kid, every season feels like a lifetime.

3. Saquon Barkley

I don’t know one Eagles fan who thought Barkley signing with the Eagles as a free agent was a believable option. And even after he signed, there were questions surrounding the team since they were just coming off a catastrophic collapse of a season. Then, we thought, if Jalen Hurts could carry a Miles Sanders-led running game to a Super Bowl appearance, maybe the upcoming season would be a bit different, in a good way. Barkley was (and still is) being paid handsomely as a running back, and we all know how “un”coveted they usually are in today’s NFL. A lot of people thought he was washed. But he turned 2024 into the best season of his entire career.

Barkley led the league in rushing with 2,005 yards, and despite having a 25-carry, 57-yard rushing line (adding six receptions for 40 yards) in Super Bowl LIX, was the focal point of a team in the Kansas City Chiefs that forgot to focus on everyone else. I’m a Jalen Hurts guy, but without Saquon, that game could have looked very different.

2. Bryce Harper

No contest that Harper’s near the top. I know some people think he might be the biggest free agent signing for Philly in the last 25+ years. I don’t know if he’s No. 1 now, but he’s definitely not below two. He quite literally brought baseball back to Philly. After he signed, the Phillies would add guys like Zack Wheeler (who can certainly be on this list given what he’s given us since 2020, but I don’t think it was quite the bombshell at the time as the Harper signing was), Kyle Schwarber, and Nick Castellanos. Wheeler was on his way to becoming a premiere pitcher, but adding what theoretically would improve their lineup exponentially with Schwarber and Castellanos helping out Harper was a huge deal. Many thought the Phillies would miss out on both, but they wound up signing both. And while Schwarber has found a nice baseball home here in Philly where he’s just called on to mash dingers, Castellanos moved on after four years. Granted, Castellanos was originally pegged to be the designated hitter once that rule was adopted by the National League, but Harper’s elbow injury changed the plan. But the main thing was Philly becoming a destination for baseball players again. That doesn’t happen without Harper.

1. LeBron James

Even if LeBron didn’t sign with the Sixers, they were already an improved team with the addition of Jaylen Brown. Gansey adding Wade, Simons, and Caldwell-Pope, in addition to Philon Jr., helps the depth issues the Sixers have had for years. And while it wasn’t nearly a finished product, adding LeBron should make everyone’s job a little easier. I hope that’s the case for Nick Nurse, too. The domino effect is real. The difference between this and some of the other free agent signings is that LeBron is in the conversation for the best basketball player ever. Bryce isn’t the best baseball player ever. Neither is Thome nor Lee. Saquon isn’t the best football player ever. LeBron isn’t coming here to be the face of the franchise, either. Even if he stays in Philly for two years, the franchise is set up well with Maxey and Edgecombe as the two eventual centerpieces; and a general manager that isn’t going to just sit around checking his portfolio while occasionally remembering that he’s a general manager.

Honorable mentions: Jeremy Roenick, Daniel Briere, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber.