For the fourth time in his historic 24-year NBA career, LeBron James will make his debut with an entirely new franchise.
The Philadelphia 76ers will face the New York Knicks
on Tuesday, Oct. 20 for the marquee matchup of the NBA’s triple-header regular-season tipoff. James and his new team will watch the Knicks raise their first banner in 53 years, and a palpable energy will once again course through Madison Square Garden.But what will James’ time with the 76ers actually look like?
The preseason offered some hints, with one caveat.
During preseason, teams don’t reveal their full schemes, in order to protect competitive advantage. And when a team like Philadelphia is incorporating so many new faces – the Sixers also landed forward Jaylen Brown in a trade
with the Celtics – installations tend to be gradual.
All to say: what we saw from the 76ers in preseason won’t necessarily be what we see the rest of the season. But it did become clear that James will serve a few key roles.
One, he’ll likely play all over the floor. James, as he has been throughout his career, is as close to a positionless player as there is in the NBA. He can literally line up at all five positions on the floor, even at center when opposing teams go small ball.
Two, James’ best asset, at this stage of his career, is play-making and distribution. It looks like this will be his focus with the Sixers.
Philadelphia opted to operate with the ball in James’ hands plenty during the preseason, both in half-court sets and in transition. James’ vision is superb, and he threaded passes all over the floor to rack up gaudy assists numbers.
If you take James’ preseason stats (in 43 minutes played) and project them to a per 36 minutes basis (to mimic his projected playing time per game throughout the season), he averaged 15.2 points, 10.1 assists and 10.1 rebounds.
He was also a plus-22.7 in plus/minus, which led the team in the preseason.
The assists and rebounding numbers are significant and likely due for a bit of a regression during the regular season. But, for the sake of comparison, the NBA leader in assists last season was Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić, with 10.7 per game.
One issue that does need some resolution is turnovers. They plagued the Sixers, overall, but James averaged 6.7 on a per 36 minute basis. Some of this is unfamiliarity with his new teammates and learning how they like to play and how they like to space the floor. The preseason is indeed a time to experiment and fail – on a small scale – but turnover numbers should improve over time.
It’s also worth noting that the 76ers probably won’t look to James to be a pure scorer, and James seemed to acknowledge this; he was deferential during the preseason and took just 10 shot attempts, with only a pair coming from 3-point range.
Which brings us to point three. What did stand out from James’ scoring during the preseason was his ability to charge downhill in transition, draw contact and get to the line. In 43 total preseason minutes, James went to the line 11 times, converting eight of those. Those are well above his averages from last season, when he made 3.9 free throws per game on 5.3 attempts.
Either way, this season should be fascinating in Philadelphia, which is carrying massive, championship expectations into the season. James has won four championships in his career.
The pursuit of the fifth starts tonight.
LeBron James arrives for first game with 76ers
Not the Fresh Prince, but the Fly King is ready for his debut as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
LeBron James has arrived at Madison Square Garden for the season opener against the defending champion New York Knicks. He was ready for business in a dark double breasted suit, a crisp white button-up underneath and patent shoes. Aviator sunglasses completed his game face.
LEBRON ARRIVES FOR HIS SIXERS DEBUT ‼️@KingJames begins his NBA-record Year 24 TONIGHT against the Knicks at 7pm/et on NBC and Peacock 🍿 pic.twitter.com/zL3y8JZejy
— NBA (@NBA) October 20, 2026
James is entering his 24th NBA season and joined the 76ers as a free agent this summer after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. He won one of his four NBA championships and became the league's all-time leading scorer while spending eight seasons in the gold and purple.
— Victoria Hernandez
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LeBron James to make 76ers debut vs Knicks. What to expect in NBA opener
