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LeBron James started for the Philadelphia 76ers in their preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets on October 8, 2026. The 41-year-old joined Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe in the starting lineup.
LeBron James made his first appearance in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform on Thursday, October 8, 2026, starting in a preseason exhibition game against the Brooklyn Nets. The move marks the beginning of James's NBA-record 24th season, following his departure from the Los Angeles Lakers after eight years.
James joined fellow All-Star newcomer Jaylen Brown, along with holdovers Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe, to form the 76ers' new starting five. According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, the plan was for the starters to play approximately half of the game. Head Coach Nick Nurse confirmed this expectation, noting that the minutes would mirror those given to Brown and Edgecombe in the team's previous preseason win over the New York Knicks.
In the first quarter, James assisted VJ Edgecombe with a no-look pass, an early highlight of his debut. James had sat out the team's preseason opener against the Knicks on Monday due to chronic arthritis in his left foot and sciatica in his lower back, injuries that required careful management.
James signed a two-year deal with the 76ers for the league minimum, reported by Yahoo Sports as $8 million. The decision to join Philadelphia was driven by a desire to win another championship before retiring. James, 41, is a four-time NBA champion.
The 76ers' regular season begins on October 20 against the New York Knicks, who will raise their NBA championship banner. The team has two additional preseason games scheduled against the Boston Celtics before that opener.
Coach Nick Nurse addressed the balance between conditioning and injury risk during the preseason. Following an Achilles injury to Ariel Hukporti, Nurse discussed the rationale for playing regular contributors in exhibition games.
"Guys are getting hurt anyway and they're like, 'Wait, are they getting hurt because they didn't condition themselves in the [preseason]?' So it's interesting because everybody's talking about it across multiple sports," Nurse said. "It doesn't make much sense to me that you sit out all the games and all of a sudden it's going 100 miles an hour in game one, because the pace is even over 100 early in the year."
The debut of LeBron James alongside Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey represents a significant shift in the Eastern Conference landscape. The 76ers, who were swept by the eventual champion Knicks in the previous playoffs' second round, are now viewed as a primary contender to challenge New York. The integration of James and Brown, both high-usage players, with existing stars Embiid and Maxey will be a key narrative for the upcoming season.
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