LeBron James' recent signing with the 76ers may have many clubs fearing Philadelphia as a legitimate title favorite next season. The New York Knicks, however, should be unfazed due to one simple reason: different stages of chemistry.
Yes, Philly now has one of the most menacing collections of talent the game currently has to offer. With James, Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Maxey leading the charge, the Sixers undeniably have quite a ferocious Big Four.
However, on-paper brilliance doesn't always translate to on-court success.
By making all these moves this summer, Philadelphia is clearly banking on this core group gelling right away and producing to the point where they wind up toppling the reigning champion Knicks in 2026-27.
The problem is, chemistry and know-how, as far as playing well together, aren't things that are normally figured out right away or on the fly.
The Knicks know this first-hand.
76ers must learn how to play together, while Knicks already figured it out
When the likes of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart first got together two summers ago, growing pains were certainly present from the jump.
Heck, their learning phase lingered on into midway through their second go-around with one another, with some suggesting as recently as March that New York may eventually need to make some serious core alterations to legitimately make a run at ultimate glory.
Needless to say, just months later, these fears have finally been put to rest, as this Knicks squad successfully navigated through the longstanding learning curves and came out on the other side as 2026 NBA Champions.
However, as alluded to, the road to doing so was rather long -- arguably longer than most anticipated.
At this point, it's clear the Knicks are content with where they are both play-wise and chemistry-wise. This latter part, in particular, presumably played a significant role in the team turning down the opportunity to pursue LeBron this summer, for his addition would have forced New York to adjust their on-court style of play to cater to his skill set.
After having just won a title, this would have been completely unecessary.
Now, the 76ers are gearing up to go through this kind of adaptation phase, and, as we've seen with star-heavy teams in the past, such as the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving Brooklyn Nets and the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George LA Clippers, for example, sometimes full potential never gets realized.
Will LeBron serve as the primary ball-handler, thus forcing Maxey into more of a catch-and-shoot scoring threat (shot just 3.5 attempts per game in such sets last year)? Can Brown sustain his career-best level of production from a season ago while serving as the third option?
As of right now, Philadelphia is merely a theoretical threat due to all of their question marks. The Knicks, meanwhile, remain ahead of them in the betting odds department, mainly because they've already found the answers.
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