LeBron James choosing Lakers was best thing to happen for 76ers

As difficult as it was at the time, LeBron James choosing the Los Angeles Lakers last summer was the best thing to happen to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Last summer, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the City of Brotherly Love when LeBron James appeared to be considering the possibility of joining the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency before eventually choosing the Los Angeles Lakers.

Whether the consideration was serious or not, just the fact that James was willing to even consider the possibility of joining a team like the Sixers showed how far the team had come along after all the years of being a major laughing stock across the league.

Thanks to Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid finally being healthy enough to play together last season for the first time, Philadelphia became a top contender in the Eastern Conference, and even earned a trip to the semifinals before falling to the Boston Celtics.

However, by losing the way they did to their rivals, it became pretty clear the Sixers were still in need of adding another superstar to play alongside Simmons and Embiid if they were truly going to be a top threat in the conference, which is why there was so much excitement with James.

Just the thought of James teaming up with the duo of Simmons and Embiid made it seem like Philadelphia would become instant contenders, but also at the end of the day, the superstar choosing Los Angeles really wasn’t all that surprising.

Between already having a home out in Los Angeles along with the opportunity to play for one of the greatest NBA franchises of all time in the Lakers, this seemed like a dream come true for James, so Philadelphia shouldn’t have been all that surprised.

At first, Sixers fans were devastated by the decision since a player like James is one of a kind for a reason, but looking back, this was the best thing to ever happen for Philadelphia as a team.

After recently watching James and the Lakers officially be eliminated from playoff contention, the Sixers and their fans are feeling good about their chances in making a deep run themselves with the team already clinching a spot.

Philadelphia’s seeding still needs to be figured out, but clinching a playoff spot takes off a huge amount of pressure for these final few weeks of the regular season. And most importantly, the Sixers managed to find all this success without James part of the picture while arguably making out even better when looking at their current roster.

If James were part of the picture, there’s no way that Philadelphia would have this current squad consisting of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, who both came over in trades earlier in the regular season.

With all due respect to James since he’s easily one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball, the Sixers are a much better team overall with Butler and Harris part of the picture.

Philadelphia didn’t realize at the time since their focus was adding a superstar like James to join Simmons and Embiid, but the way this scenario played out ended up working wonders for the Sixers as a team.

Come playoff time, this will become even more clear for Brett Brown’s squad, especially when taking into consideration that James will be watching the postseason from home.