LeBron James Set for 76ers Debut on Knicks Banner Night

LeBron James is set to play his first game for a fourth NBA team Tuesday night, and he gets to do it while the Knicks raise a championship banner right in front of him. The 76ers open at Madison Square Garden at 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with James and Jaylen Brown set to make their Philadelphia debuts, per NBA.com.

James, 41, signed a two-year deal with the Sixers on July 24, chasing a fifth championship with a fourth franchise. Philadelphia has not won a title since 1983 and has not gotten past the conference finals since 2001.

A Starting Five Built for Right Now

The Sixers went all in. They traded Paul George and four draft picks to Boston for Brown, who averaged a career-high 28.7 points last season. NBA.com has James and Brown starting alongside Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe. Maxey led the league at 38.0 minutes a night and scored a career-high 28.3 points per game, and Edgecombe finished third in Rookie of the Year voting at 16.0 points per game. Embiid, 32, has played just 96 regular-season games over the last three years.

"I'm excited; new team, new guys, lots of talent," Embiid said, per NBA.com. "There's going to be ups and downs during the season, so you just want to make sure you learn from those downs."

James sat out the preseason opener against these same Knicks on Oct. 5 as a rest day. ESPN's Dave McMenamin has reported that he is managing chronic arthritis in his left foot, and the Sixers have talked about managing his workload. Nick Nurse said Monday that Dean Wade (ankle), Dominick Barlow (back) and Tacko Fall did not practice, per Heavy. The official injury report had not been filed as of Monday afternoon.

Knicks Raise the Banner

New York won its first title in 53 years in June. The Knicks went 16-3 in the playoffs, at one point winning 13 straight, and swept these Sixers in the East semifinals along the way. Jalen Brunson was Finals MVP after scoring 45 in the 94-90 clincher over San Antonio. The run also included the largest comeback in Finals history, 29 points in Game 4, capped when OG Anunoby tipped in Brunson's missed 3 with 1.2 seconds left.

Almost everybody is back. Mitchell Robinson is the only member of the rotation who left, signing with the Celtics. Karl-Anthony Towns can opt out after this season, and the Knicks have tabled extension talks with Towns, Josh Hart and Deuce McBride until later in the year. No team has repeated since the 2017-18 Warriors.

"My only philosophy since we won, only thing on my mind, is how do we win another one?" Towns said, per NBA.com.

What to Watch

For fantasy, Maxey's usage is the number to track in week one now that James and Brown are sharing the ball with him.

The Garden gets its banner first. Then James gets 48 minutes to spoil the party against the team that swept Philly out of the playoffs in May.