It's almost basketball season in the City of Brotherly Love.
This week, the new-look Philadelphia 76ers hit the court to start training camp, preparing for what's shaping up to be the most exciting season in the history of the Joel Embiid era.
LeBron James is indeed a Sixer. So is the former Boston Celtics superstar, Jaylen Brown. Those two joined the team to form a starting five with some Philly favorites in Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Embiid.
After the Sixers went through their first practice of camp action on Tuesday, the official social media account offered a 10-second teaser of what the Sixers' first-day scrimmage looked like. It's a micro sample size, but one that comes with takeaways.
Takeaways from the Sixers' 10-second clip
camp is in session. pic.twitter.com/jxlvB2aYU6
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) September 29, 2026
Is that LeBron James wearing No. 9?
When the Sixers officially announced the acquisition of LeBron, they revealed that he would return to wearing No. 23. James went through media day with the same number. Suddenly, he's wearing a different number on his practice jersey.
Look, if we're going to make the helicopter thing a big deal, then so should the mysterious number change. Maybe his jersey got lost? Who knows, but it's worth bringing up. It's also worth noting how shocking it is to see VJ Edgecombe throwing down an alley-oop from LeBron James. Imagine saying that last year when the kid was just coming out of Baylor.
Domnick Barlow might be getting a shot at the five
The backup center spot is the camp battle to pay attention to this offseason. The Sixers had a loaded run in free agency and the trade market, but Joel Embiid's primary backup spot was not exactly taken care of. It seems the Sixers want to see what they have in Adem Bona and brought in Ariel Hukporti as a possible under-the-radar signing.
Currently, Bona is out with an injury. It looks like Dominick Barlow might be getting some run at the backup five spot. The young power forward was put in a tough spot when LeBron signed, since it pushed Dean Wade to the bench. Barlow is good enough to garner minutes--he averaged 17.3 throughout the four years of his career--but he needs to show value in different areas in order to win playing time on this team. Small-ball five? Promising sight.
The rookie's in the scrimmage
A reminder that this is a small sample size, so it's unclear who was getting the true backup point guard reps throughout the practice, but it's promising to see Labaron Philon Jr. in the mix with some rotation locks.
Coming out of Alabama, Philon has a lot of upside. The Sixers were surely going to give him a fair look to win the backup point guard spot behind Tyrese Maxey, but the big changes shake up the situation. It might not be by default, by Philon can win playing time by giving Nick Nurse no choice but to roll him out based on his training cap performance.
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