Rich: How LeBron James to the 76ers Impacts Philadelphia’s NBA Title Chances

The Philadelphia 76ers put a crown on the jersey when they introduced LeBron James, and Rich had no problem with the theatrics. He had a problem with the visual.

"I don't blame him for bringing the crown even though, for people my age, Del Tufo, it looks like maybe he can't believe it's not butter, going there in Philadelphia right there," Rich said. "But I don't blame the Sixers for flexing like this, man."

Flex earned. Because the more Rich talked it through, the more the takeaway landed in the same place: Philadelphia is a real problem now.

"The Philadelphia 76ers absolutely are now in the running to win the East," Rich said. "They're absolutely in the running to win the whole damn thing if they can put it all together and get enough health out of everybody and see what happens in the long run."

The books already agree, mostly. Chris ran the numbers and put the Sixers fourth in title odds, with Oklahoma City and San Antonio each at plus 260, the Knicks at nine to one, the Sixers at 10 to one, then a gap before the Celtics at 14 to one and the Raptors at 20 to one. Denver sat at 22 to one, Detroit and Minnesota at 25 to one. Rich attached a caveat to the top six: "That's if Kawhi is able to play for the team."

The line that actually got a reaction was further down the board. The Lakers came in at 45 to one, roughly the same neighborhood as the Pacers, which sent Rich straight to the front office he assumes is still processing all of this.

"I would have loved to have had a GoPro on Rob Pelinka's face or anybody else in that organization's face when they saw the amount of money LeBron signed with for the Philadelphia 76ers," Rich said, pointing out that James almost certainly could have made multiples of that number by staying put, and never gave Los Angeles a hometown discount before.

Rich also admitted the destination surprised him. He expected Miami. If not Miami, he figured Golden State, for geography as much as basketball. Instead it was Philadelphia, and Chris connected the dots back to Boston: the Celtics moved on from Jaylen Brown, Brown landed with the Sixers, and LeBron followed the best available path to a ring. As Chris put it, the Celtics essentially traded Jaylen Brown and LeBron James for Paul George and two number ones.

There is also the open question of where James actually lives. Rich is curious whether the commute from New York to Philadelphia becomes a real thing, the way Kobe used to get from Orange County to Los Angeles late in his career, though Kobe was not doing that on the ground. TJ offered a cleaner comp, noting J.J. Redick lived in Brooklyn while he played for the Sixers and made that trip.

Everything still routes through the same question mark, and Rich did not pretend otherwise. Joel Embiid's health is the variable that decides the season. But he laid out the version that terrifies the rest of the league: the LeBron who took over a first-round playoff game for the Lakers late last year, dropped alongside a healthy Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown and Embiid.

"If that guy shows up in Philadelphia, this is a major problem for the rest of the league," Rich said. "It is."

The other guarantee is entertainment value at the desk, where Chris and TJ will spend the entire season relitigating this. TJ has waited a long time for it. "He's always had an upper hand. I'm not going to lie about that," TJ said. "But now I feel like we finally have the better team."