LeBron James is entering his 24th NBA season with less need than ever to prove he can score.
Philadelphia needs him to make everybody else better.
That is how Magic Johnson views James’ fit with a loaded 76ers lineup featuring Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown. Asked by Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson how James would operate as a playmaker surrounded by Philadelphia’s other stars, Johnson saw little reason to complicate the answer.
“Well, it’s gonna be easy when you’re a playmaker,” Johnson told Robinson at the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation Gala in Beverly Hills. “He gets everybody involved in the game. He gets people easy buckets and shots.”
Coming from Johnson, perhaps the greatest oversized playmaker in NBA history, that assessment carries some weight.
And it reinforces exactly what Philadelphia apparently has planned for its newest superstar.
Magic Johnson Sees Natural Fit for 76ers’ ‘Point LeBron’
ESPN’s Shams Charania previously reported that the 76ers expect James to spend significant time initiating coach Nick Nurse’s offense at point guard.
The idea is less about asking a 41-year-old James to dominate the ball and more about turning Philadelphia’s abundance of scoring talent into an advantage. With Maxey, Brown, Embiid and VJ Edgecombe around him, James can spend more possessions creating shots instead of taking them himself.
Johnson believes that responsibility remains one of James’ greatest strengths.
“When you think about Maxey, Embiid … all those guys, now Jaylen Brown,” Johnson said. “One thing that he knows how to do is also bring everybody together.”
That’s an important part of the equation.
The Sixers aren’t merely incorporating James. They are integrating James and Brown into an established offense built around Maxey and Embiid, creating the sort of star-heavy roster that can become overwhelming when it works — and disjointed when everybody needs the ball.
James gives Nurse a natural organizer.
LeBron James Has Championship Blueprint at Point Guard
There is also precedent for making James the primary playmaker late in his career.
The last time James officially served as his team’s starting point guard was with the 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers. He responded by leading the NBA with a career-high 10.2 assists per game while averaging 25.3 points and 7.8 rebounds. Los Angeles went 52-19 and won the championship, with James earning Finals MVP.
Philadelphia isn’t asking him to reproduce that season seven years later.
Last season, James averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds across 60 games. His scoring burden can now decrease because of the talent surrounding him.
Maxey supplies speed and downhill pressure. Brown can create from the wing. Embiid commands double teams inside and out. Edgecombe gives James another explosive cutter and transition target.
James’ job could be to determine which matchup Philadelphia exploits on a given possession.
Johnson knows something about managing an offense overflowing with talent. He won five championships directing the Showtime Lakers and later helped bring James to Los Angeles in 2018 while serving as the franchise’s president of basketball operations.
Now he sees James facing another challenge familiar to an elite point guard: keeping stars fed without allowing the offense to become a collection of individual possessions.
For Johnson, that isn’t the difficult part of Philadelphia’s experiment.
It might be the reason it works.
Magic Johnson Makes Feelings Clear on LeBron James’ Role With 76ers