LePhiladelphia 76ers

It is with great sorrow and anguish that I write this short entry about our glorious Supreme Leader LeBron James. Although I don't want to get too ahead of myself and jump to conclusions about what James' debut preseason game in a Sixers uniform might mean, I am willing to concede that we might be cooked.

For starters, LeBron looked great despite his limited minutes. 10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and only 2 turnovers, with a final box +/- of +10 in 18 minutes. Despite entering year 24 and being 41 years old, he's still hustling around the court and making plays for the players around him. He is simply another year older.

Now, let's get into the news that is going to make Bronsexuals like me cry.

Firstly, as was to be expected, LeBron is not a focal point of this offense, at least in the preseason. It is very obvious that games are going to be decided through the tenacity of play shown by Philly's Big Four: Embiid, Edgecombe, Brown, and Maxey.

Second, and excuse the language I'm about to throw down here, but as was also to be expected, LeBron is no longer that Lakers monster or even that late-second-stint Cavs player that we all love. This version of LeBron James appears to me, and once again, excuse my language, to be a version of LeBron that is LeLarping LeMagic Johnson.

Now, is this a bad thing? Absolutely not. The Sixers have put together an amazing ensemble cast of players that could really benefit from having a great passer on the roster, and LeBron looks to be more than capable of being that player at a high level if he can rely on the rest of the Monstars here to win games (which is a lot of trust to give to Joel Embiid, but I digress). Again, it's preseason, and we should expect LeBron to be able to slice up a defense, but I think that's something we're going to see throughout the year. Within his role, he's primarily going to be there for playmaking. He's not a first-option player, and we're going to see a more analytical LeBron that runs plays, dishes the ball, and relies on the team around him to finish possessions.

Third, 10 points. 1/1 from the field and 8/8 from the free-throw line. This worries me the most, mainly because the last thing I want to hear all year long is LeMerchant chants being thrown around.

We are unfortunately in a time of basketball where foul baiting and getting to the line for two easy points is just as much an art as having good perimeter defense or being able to nail a turnaround midrange. While this likely isn't the most exciting aspect of the sport, it is a part of the sport that we must endure.

I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. A snap count in football is a way to keep teams in sync, sure, but it also functions very well as a way to draw some flags. A good snap count can get people offsides. Ask Peyton Manning.

Getting to the line IS an art form, and while it does prop up PPG stats and lead to some headaches come award season, it's not the end of the world. It gives the game a great opportunity for you, as a viewer, to slow down and maybe grab another drink.

In any event, I do not expect LeBron to be an All-Star-caliber player this year. Again, I don't want to get ahead of myself. This was only ONE single preseason game, but the writing is on the wall within the current team ecosystem, and I simply do not see it as possible.

All of this brings up an even more important question, though: How does this affect LeBron's legacy?

I'm not sure, and I'm trying not to bring my own personal bias into this conversation. I think the brass tacks here are that this was ultimately a decision made to get a fifth ring. Why else would an avid golfer leave sunny California for a dreaded Northeastern winter when places like Golden State and Miami were still on the board? Philly did not seem like it was going to be LeBron's landing point quite literally until it was announced. Maybe it was orchestrated that way, maybe the Sixers made him an offer he couldn't refuse, but regardless of circumstance, you cannot deny that the Sixers have put their team into a "win now" position with the cast they have put together. Joining that team, to me, just screamed ring chase. He wants his fifth ring; who wouldn't?

A fifth ring for LeBron doesn't mean much for his legacy in my eyes. He's already accomplished everything. He's been a first-ballot Hall of Famer since 2016. He's got four rings, four MVPs, four Finals MVPs, and the scoring record. There is simply nothing left for him to conquer.

Confined to his role, his elite caliber of play as a "Steve Nash" type is most likely going to fly under the radar as being a coherent part of 76ers wins throughout the season (similar to how Nash's contributions are sometimes overlooked in discussions of his legacy). In short, ESPN will not be calling him a key to victory any time soon.

Within the GOAT debate, and within player v. player arguments, rings are counted as individuals being the focus of the offense, or being the driving factor behind the ring. You think of people like Mike, Shaq, and Kobe. You are not thinking about the quantity of rings Robert Horry or even Scottie Pippen have when you're comparing them to someone else. This is especially true of Robert Horry, but it's always an interesting conversation with Pippen. Pippen has six rings, sure, but if you compare Pippen to somebody like Paul George or even Paul Pierce, rings are usually the last thing to be mentioned. It creates a strange distinction between championships won as the driving force of a team and championships won as a supporting player, a distinction I feel LeBron's fifth ring would fall under. Within 10 years, most people will simply discount that fifth ring in their GOAT arguments and instead focus on the other 4 where he was the driving force behind winning them.

From my standpoint, a move to Philly doesn't affect his legacy in any measurable sense. Within his current role, he's what I would consider a Tier 2 member of the roster, an efficient starting role player. While that role is certainly a fall from grace when compared to the rest of his career, I think it's exactly where he wants to be for his final act in the NBA.

The King has spent his entire life within the limelight. Since high school, every team he's played on was "LeBron's team." The current understanding is that the Sixers are just the Sixers. Who does that team "belong" to? I can't comfortably say it's LeBron's team, and for that, I think his legacy remains intact regardless of how things look at the end of the season. At the very least, LeBron's year(s) in Philly will eventually become like Jordan's years in D.C. Functionally irrelevant to the rest of his career.

I don't want to undercut what LeBron or the Sixers are capable of, though. While fence-sitting on this idea is rather cowardly, at the end of the day, we are still talking about LeBron James. A man who is capable of all things. I'm not here to espouse the notion that LeBron could have prevented the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Nor am I going to entertain the urban legends that every ball he dunks gains a heartbeat, or that his chase-down block in the 2016 Finals registered a 2.3 on the Richter scale.

LeBron is a generational athlete and has proven multiple times that counting him out is usually a bad idea. I can see this Sixers team going in two wildly different directions: an insane season culminating in a championship, or a spectacular implosion that has everyone fighting by the trade deadline. We simply don't know how things are going to turn out. We don't know the grand strategy of how they intend to utilize LeBron James either. It's the preseason.

All of my takes here could fall flat on their face. Who knows? That makes it fun. At the end of the day, I will be using LeBron's time as a Sixer to continue to bolster his position as the greatest of all time in any backwards way that I can.

I know the discourse around LeBron is muddy. Much of it, especially pertaining to the GOAT debate, is full of great analytical points, loyalty questions, ring-chasing questions, and a lot of vitriol for him, and inversely, for Michael Jordan.

GOAT debates are fun to have, but I think something else needs to happen. The conversation is never going to disappear, but I think right now is a great moment for the NBA community as a whole to just sit back and watch the twilight of LeBron's career.

There will come a day in the very near future when the next time you see LeBron, it will be at one of his jersey retirements, being inducted into the Hall of Fame, or simply sitting courtside.

Enjoy the ride before it's over.