The Philadelphia 76ers have landed the biggest fish of the offseason with the addition of LeBron James in free agency. Even this late in his brilliant career, James is a huge franchise-changer and is still somebody who has to be accounted for by the opposition.
In year No. 23, James averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds in 2025-26 with the Los Angeles Lakers. He led the Lakers to a 53-29 record and he still played in 60 games before then upping his game in the playoffs to help the Lakers eliminate the Houston Rockets in Round 1 and played well in Round 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With that being said, as James now joins the Sixers, one has to wonder how the first year with his new teams go. Sixers Wire will do a little look
back in history to see how long it took teams to really integrate James and figure out how things worked with arguably the greatest player ever to play the game.
Miami Heat 2010-11
After seven terrific seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James shocked everybody in 2010 with his decision to join the Heat. Teaming up with future Hall of Famers such as Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the Heat got off to a bumpy start, to say the least. Miami started 9-8 as they certainly had some ups and downs. There was the infamous "bump gate" when James accidentally bumped into coach Erik Spoelstra and there were rumblings that Pat Riley was going to take over as the team's coach.
After the 9-8 start, the Heat figured it out and went on a 12-game winning streak. They then ran through the Eastern Conference and held a 2-1 lead in the 2011 finals over the Dallas Mavericks. However, James and Co. came up short as Dirk Nowitzki and Co. won the title. In four seasons in Miami, James won two championships in 2012 and 2013, but made the finals in all four of his seasons.
Cleveland Cavaliers, 2014-15
After four seasons in Miami, James made his way back to northeast Ohio and the team started 19-20 with plenty of bumps along the way. James teamed up with young star Kyrie Irving as well as Kevin Love in an effort to bring Cleveland its first championship under the guidance of coach David Blatt. After that start, the Cavs went on a 12-game winning streak and found a rhythm all the way to the finals before injuries to Irving and Love hindered their chances against the Golden State Warriors.
In his second season back, the Cavs fired Blatt after a 30-11 start and promoted Ty Lue to be the team's head coach with the result of winning the title in 2016 by rallying from 3-1 down in the rematch with the Warriors. All in all, James and the Cavs, in four seasons, the Cavs made the finals all four times--all against the Warriors--and won one title.
Los Angeles Lakers, 2018-19
James then moved on to the Lakers in 2018 as he joined an LA team that featured youngsters at the time. Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and Kyle Kuzma were big pieces of that group and the Lakers got off to a great start. James and Co. were 20-14 after a Christmas Day road win over the Warriors, but an injury he suffered in that game forced him to miss time and the Lakers slumped. LA finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs, which marked the first time James missed the postseason since his second year in the league.
In eight seasons, James and the Lakers had mixed results. LA made the move to acquire Anthony Davis in the 2019 offseason which led to them winning a championship in the bubble in 2020 with James taking home finals MVP. LA then missed the playoffs in 2022 before making the Western Conference finals in 2023.
What's next for James and the Sixers in 2026-27?
All of this is to say that James and the Sixers might get off to a bumpy start as they look to figure everything out. Philadelphia will be looking to figure out chemistry and the offensive hierarchy with James being flanked by Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe. A lot will be on the plate of coach Nick Nurse to figure this out on the floor.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Examining first seasons of new teams LeBron James has played for
