It has been more than four decades since the 76ers last won a title. Every superstar they’ve assembled since has come with a championship promise and left with a question mark. LeBron James, who they just signed, is calling this his last decision – and the role he’s being asked to play is unlike any he’s held in 23 NBA seasons.

James officially signed a two-year, $8 million deal with Philadelphia on Sunday. “I thought I was done when the season ended,” James wrote on X. “I was pretty sure I played my last game.” With the Sixers’ full-strength starting lineup projecting to be Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, James, and Embiid, the question Shams Charania answered on the Stephen A. Smith Show is how all of that scoring talent actually coexists.

“The big thing I hear around the Sixers organisation right now is sacrifice,” Charania said on The Stephen A. Smith Show. “When you think about scoring, you look at Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and on any given night Joel Embiid is right up there. Any of those guys can lead this team in scoring. And then you look at LeBron James — in a lot of ways, he’s setting the table for everyone.”

“The one year he played point guard, in 2019-20, the Lakers won a championship. He was arguably the best point guard in the NBA.” His expectation for Philadelphia is to see LeBron James as the initiator, the game manager, and the quarterback who makes Maxey, Brown, Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe the beneficiaries. James informed the Lakers of his decision at the start of free agency and called this his “last decision,” saying he was “not going for money” and believed he could help make Philadelphia a championship team.

The two-year, $8 million deal – with a player option in year two – is a fraction of what James could have reportedly received anywhere on the open market, including Golden State, Miami, and Minnesota, all of which had been active pursuers. He left the max on the table to join a team already built around other stars.

Brown Was 100% Behind the Move, and Why It Works

Charania reported what happened behind the scenes between James and Jaylen Brown before the deal was done. “Jaylen Brown was 100% supportive of this move,” Charania said. “Those two guys didn’t speak directly during the process, but Jaylen Brown did have communication with Rich Paul to let him know: ‘I want LeBron here. This is someone I want to play with.’”

Brown has, reportedly, already assumed a leadership role with Maxey and Edgecombe – both of whom want guidance without surrendering their own freedom. Maxey remains the co-face of the franchise, the constant presence through Embiid’s injury cycles, and that identity doesn’t disappear with James in the building. What James brings, as Charania sees it, is the piece that lets everyone else be exactly who they already are.