The Philadelphia 76ers finally put their new-look starting five on the floor Thursday night in Brooklyn, giving fans a first real look at a group built around Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and Joel Embiid.
That was the attraction. The other half of the story was harder to miss.
James, who joined the Sixers this summer for his NBA-record 24th season and signed a two-year deal for the league minimum, made his preseason debut in a lineup that had been talked about all week. Coach Nick Nurse had hoped to get most of his main players together in the first half, and expected to play his starters about half the game. The idea was simple enough: get the group on the floor, let it breathe, and start building something before the regular season opens Oct. 20 in New York.
Instead, the first major look at the lineup became a reminder of how much still has to come together.
The Sixers lost to the Nets 114-108.
James did not attempt a shot until he was fouled on a drive to the basket with 4:54 left in the first quarter, and he was credited with only one field-goal attempt in 18 minutes. Even so, he still finished the first half with 10 points, five assists and four rebounds, showing how much he could affect the game without dominating the ball. Brown led the Sixers with 18 points, while Maxey added 14 and Edgecombe chipped in 11.
The numbers offered both sides of the same argument. The talent was obvious. The rhythm was not.
Philadelphia’s starting five had not played together before Thursday, and the game showed the usual preseason tradeoff: stretches where the group looked dangerous, and stretches where the execution lagged behind the names on the jerseys. That tension was already visible in the first half, when James and Brown helped the Sixers build an early lead, but the offense never settled into the kind of clean, repeatable flow the team will need once the games count.
The Nets were not an easy measuring stick in the sense of experience — Brooklyn used a young roster with 12 players in their first or second year — but the Sixers still had the more established lineup and the more accomplished names. That made the sloppier stretches stand out even more.
It also made the preseason context matter. Nurse wanted his starters together for a meaningful run, not just a ceremonial introduction. The Sixers got that look, but not the kind of polished answer that would quiet the questions around how quickly this group can turn individual skill into consistent cohesion.
There were still encouraging pieces. Brown’s scoring carried over from Monday, when he put up 22 points in 17 minutes against the Knicks, and Edgecombe followed his 12-point, seven-assist showing in that game with another productive night in Brooklyn. The Sixers have also seen enough from their new pieces to know the ceiling is there. The question is how often the lineup can reach it without the offense stalling or the possessions getting messy.
That is what makes the next stretch matter. Philadelphia has two preseason games left, including Saturday night in Boston against the Celtics, before the Oct. 20 opener. The Sixers have already had their first look at the potent lineup they assembled this summer. Now they need the minutes that turn a collection of stars into something that looks connected.