How the Celtics and Cavaliers helped gift LeBron James to the Sixers

More than three weeks after free agency began, LeBron James announced Friday that he'll be joining the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $7.9 million deal with a second-year player option.

He said the decision was not about money — which is obvious, seeing as he signed a veteran-minimum contract — or family. Instead, it was about his desire to "compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship."

The Sixers have two of their conference rivals to thank for hand-delivering James to them.

The Celtics got the LeBron ball rolling

Heading into the offseason, the Sixers appeared to be stuck. They owed more than $100 million to Paul George and Joel Embiid in 2026-27 and seemed like they'd just have to bide their time until those two contracts expired.

But when the Boston Celtics fell short in their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo, everything changed.

The Celtics had been dangling Jaylen Brown as the centerpiece of their trade talks for the Greek Freak. Even after Antetokounmpo went to Miami, the Celtics remained "actively engaged in trade talks" involving Brown, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

One week later, they shipped Brown to the Sixers for George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.

Had the Celtics not done that, LeBron might not have even considered signing with the Sixers. During an appearance on Stephen A. Smith's Straight Shooter show, Charania said the Sixers were "not in the picture" until they swung that move.

Charania echoed during an appearance on First Take after LeBron announced his decision Friday.

The Sixers did give up their fully unprotected 2031 first-round pick in the deal for Brown, along with a complicated 2028 pick and two second-rounders. There weren't many quibbles with that price in the first place, but if that was the key to landing LeBron, it's even more of a no-brainer now.

After the trade, Celtics president of basketball Brad Stevens told reporters that the path back toward title contention "looked a little bit more challenging with 70 percent of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players." The Sixers are now paying 70 percent of the salary cap to Brown and Embiid, but having LeBron earning less than $4 million helps mitigate any financial concerns they might have.

Ironically, two years ago, Embiid was complaining that Celtics forward Jayson Tatum had a "super team" and that "if I had a super team, I would win too."

The tables have now flipped two years later.

The Darius Garland-James Harden swap gone wrong

At this year's trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Darius Garland and a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for James Harden. In retrospect, that might have cost them a shot at another LeBron reunion.

During an episode of his Game Over podcast, James' agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, said James "loves Garland like he loves" Sixers point guard Tyrese Maxey. He prefaced it by saying that it was "no offense to Harden," but that shade wasn't exactly subtle.

Harden's proclivity to come up short in the playoffs might not have been the deal-breaker from LeBron's perspective, though. Instead, it might have been a fit question.

The soon-to-be 37-year-old Harden remains one of the NBA's most gifted passers, but he's far more ball-dominant than either Garland or Maxey. He isn't much of an off-ball threat either as a shooter or a cutter. He tends to just stand in one place along the perimeter when he doesn't have the ball in his hands, which doesn't put much stress on opposing defenses.

Harden is also an apathetic defender, to put it charitably. When the New York Knicks began mounting their furious comeback against the Cavaliers in Game 1 of this year's Eastern Conference Finals, they mostly just put the ball in Jalen Brunson's hands and let him seek and destroy Harden on defense.

The Cavaliers might have had similar issues defensively with Garland and Donovan Mitchell as their starting backcourt. But Garland is far more adept at operating off the ball than Harden, which would have made him a better fit with LeBron on that end of the floor.

At the time of the trade, the Cavaliers likely didn't know how much a Garland-Harden swap might hurt their chances of landing LeBron nearly six months later. While Harden is a decade older than Garland, the latter had been in and out of the lineup due to a lingering toe injury. Harden is far more reliable health-wise.

Harden did help the Cavs get to the conference finals, so the trade wasn't a total loss. But if it cost them a shot at LeBron — and made their path back to the Finals that much more difficult as a result — they might be having second thoughts about that deal.

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