LeBron James is entering a part of his career he has never quite experienced before. At 41, with his 24th NBA season ahead of him, the four-time champion has taken a much different path into the next chapter than he has at any point since entering the league.
He agreed to a two-year, approximately $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason, with a player option for the second year and a 15% trade kicker. His $3.88 million salary for 2026-27 is a massive drop from the roughly $52.6 million he made with the Los Angeles Lakers last season. It is also the lowest annual salary of his career since his rookie contract.
Derek Fisher believes that change should extend to James’ role on the court. Speaking on SiriusXM NBA Radio, the former Lakers champion said there is “no reason for him to have to be the best player on the team….Shouldn’t even try to be the best player on the team….It would positively add to his individual legacy to be a part of another team that plays in the NBA Finals, which I think the Sixers have a chance to get to.”
Fisher’s argument is notable because James’ role had already started to change before he left Los Angeles. In 2025-26, James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists while posting a career-low usage rate of about 26.2%. He also had his lowest minutes of possession and drives in the tracking era and was assisted on a career-high share of his field goals. The numbers point to a player who was already taking on less of the offensive burden than he had earlier in his career.
Philadelphia gives James an unusual situation because the Sixers already have three established players capable of carrying major offensive responsibilities. Joel Embiid averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 38 regular-season games last season. Tyrese Maxey averaged 28.3 points while operating as Philadelphia’s lead guard and primary ball-handler, while Jaylen Brown arrived from Boston as an All-NBA-level scorer and secondary creator. VJ Edgecombe adds another young scoring and ball-handling option, although the main hierarchy question is centered on Embiid, Maxey, Brown and James.
That does not mean the fit is simple. Embiid and James can both create spacing pressure because of where they prefer to operate on the floor, while Brown is a capable but not elite three-point shooter. Maxey and Edgecombe provide more perimeter threat, but James himself shot only around 31-32% from three last season. The Sixers will have to find a way to balance the ball-handling of Maxey, Brown and James with Embiid’s role as the team’s offensive hub.
Fisher has also argued that the move is about more than chasing another ring. In an earlier appearance, he pushed back on the idea that James is simply ring-chasing, saying, “You’re not ring chasing when you’re the guy that creates the rings.” Fisher also pointed to James’ relationships with Maxey and Embiid and said Brown’s arrival made Philadelphia more attractive.
James himself gave a similar explanation when he announced the move. “I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship,” James said. He added, “I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team.”
There is a real chance for that vision to work, but Philadelphia still has a major question to answer. The Sixers went 45-37 last season, earned the No. 7 seed and came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Boston in the first round before the Knicks swept them in the conference semifinals. Embiid played only 38 regular-season games, making his availability the biggest variable in any projection of Philadelphia’s ceiling.
Philadelphia’s title chances have improved with the additions of Brown and James, but the Sixers are not the consensus favorite. Their path still sits behind teams such as San Antonio and Oklahoma City, and the overlap between four players with major offensive roles remains a legitimate concern.
That is what makes Fisher’s prediction more interesting than a simple endorsement of the move. James does not have to carry Philadelphia for the signing to make sense. His 2025-26 season already showed signs of a reduced offensive role, and the Sixers have enough creators around him that he can focus more on initiating offense, making plays and filling the gaps around Embiid, Maxey and Brown.
If that version of James helps Philadelphia reach the Finals, it would also give him something he has never done before: reach the championship round with a fourth franchise. He has already reached the Finals with Cleveland, Miami and the Lakers and won championships with all three. Whether that would make his legacy greater is a matter of opinion, but doing it with a fourth team would be historically unique.
For Fisher, that is the point. At this stage of James’ career, Philadelphia does not need him to prove that he can still be the best player on a team. It needs him to help a talented group become good enough to win. And for the first time, James may have a real chance to do that without having to be the center of everything.