When LeBron James joins an NBA team, it's always difficult to know who is in charge. You've heard of LeBron playing different roles like star player, role player, coach, GM; we've heard it all throughout his two-decade career.
That last role mentioned--LeGM--is one that might make Philadelphia 76ers fans nervous because the Joel Embiid trade rumors were running free after LeBron inked a deal with the Sixers recently.
One way to get a small peek at LeBron's thought process is to see what his superagent, Rich Paul, thinks. Now that Paul has put his takes on record for all to hear, we can understand what one of the leaders of LeBron's camp thinks about the superstar big man.
The Sixers aren't going to get pressure from LeBron
On the latest episode of Game Over, Paul's co-host Max Kellerman believes the Sixers need to cut ties with the former MVP before the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season.
"I don't think they can keep Embiid because it's like he's a victim of his own excellence in the sense that I don't care how good he's feeling in the offseason and all that. Look, if he stays healthy the whole time, they win the whole thing, and he proves me wrong, right?" Kellerman said.
"But he is such a big piece to integrate, and then have to work around, and then if he comes back to integrate and every year of his career it's always something else. Man, if I'm the Sixers, I'm moving off Embiid as soon as possible."
Rich Paul's response? “Come on. In the playoffs, you want mismatches. If Embiid is healthy, he’s a mismatch every night. He’s on a different team now. Don’t get me wrong, you have to figure out how to stagger minutes. This is all about staggering minutes.”
How will it be different?
One would hope that the Sixers did enough to the roster to take some of that pressure off Embiid. Anybody who watches the Sixers knows the difference-maker that Embiid has been in the 30-something games he's played during a season lately.
But they never had enough around Tyrese Maxey to make up for the loss of Embiid. Now, the Sixers have loaded up on more star power. Jaylen Brown, a multi-time All-Star in his prime, has played in over 60 games in each of the past five seasons. Even a 40-something LeBron James played in at least 60 games in each of the past two seasons.
The situation isn't perfect. Embiid's health is and will remain a concern for the remainder of his career, but LeBron's desire to immediately compete for a title doesn't seem to be forcing the Sixers into making a franchise-altering decision by relocating its top player of the past decade. Rich Paul co-signs that trading Embiid is a bad idea. That should say a lot to anybody paying attention.
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