LeBron James’ Philadelphia 76ers debut was as low-stakes as it gets, a Saturday afternoon scrimmage in front of fans in South Philadelphia, but it reinforced the tone that Sixers President Mike Gansey says the 41-year-old has established to open training camp.

“I’ve been in a lot of training camps, and I mean the intensity, LeBron’s diving on the floor for loose balls, he’s 41 years old,” Gansey said. “Stuff like that, he has really set the tone, and everyone’s been doing the same. And like you’ll see today, guys are gonna really want to compete with each other.”

That held true when Philadelphia hit the floor. There were certainly some lulls in the action, a few freebie dunks in transition to get the fans rolling, but it was a mostly serious display of basketball for a group still coming together. VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid met at the rim on an attempted poster dunk by the guard, with Embiid still seething after the game about being called for a foul. Rookie Labaron Philon showed off active hands all day long, battling gamely against James and Jaylen Brown as the bigger wings tried to exploit their younger teammate. And the Sixers played unselfish offense, with a few isolation situations sprinkled in between quick movement, up-tempo transition possessions, and off-ball cutting.

It was business-like, in other words, which is how the Sixers have come off from media day onward, focused on a mission that hopefully won’t end until they are holding the Larry O’Brien trophy in June.

“It’s just a one percent better every day mentality for us,” LeBron said after the scrimmage. “This is another extension of our training camp, and I feel like we were able to do some things that we’ve been working on both offensively and defensively. I’m just trying to get better, and I think today we did that.”

Unsurprisingly, James put on a show during limited minutes on Saturday, throwing down multiple lobs from teammates while canning a few perimeter jumpers along the way. He had what should have been the day’s best dime, a beautiful behind-the-back pass to VJ Edgecombe in the opposite corner, that the second-year guard unfortunately clanged off the rim.

Many eyes turned toward Joel Embiid during the scrimmage after the end of the offseason turned into #MuscleWatch for the big man, who had a healthy offseason and used it to slim down considerably. The big man has denied that much has changed for him in the fitness department, but the scrimmage appeared to reveal a rejuvenated, more mobile Embiid. He played extensive minutes in the scrimmage, capping off a week that Gansey said had him in every single drill, scrimmage, and piece of practice the Sixers had.

And this was more than Embiid simply getting marked present. The Sixers had him hedge high nearly out to halfcourt in the first half of Saturday’s scrimmage, used him as a short-roll passer out of ball screens, and had him vocal and active on defense in ways we haven’t seen much of in recent years. LeBron James had a very different experience playing with Embiid during the 2024 Olympic run, when the big man was still hobbling and finding his way while battling constant meniscus problems.

“The reps have picked up from 2024 from the Olympics. We had some chemistry, we played a lot of minutes, he started a lot of games for us,” LeBron said. “The difference between ’24 and now, he’s so much more healthier. He hasn’t missed a practice, been in damn near everything that we’ve done, pretty much they’ve had to sit him out at times, even when he wanted to keep going. So it’s been good, it’s actually been great.”

Without trying to overstate things, having Embiid at full go from the start of training camp could be the difference between the Sixers reaching their potential and flaming out early in the playoffs. He has rarely been a full participant during this part of the year, which features their highest volume of practice time all season. Stacking up days together with the full group is a huge lift for a group trying to figure out their roles build some form of cohesion. Game reps will be the most important piece, naturally, but this is a golden opportunity to build an identity (and even multiple identities) before being under the glare of the bright lights.

Sacrifice has already become the theme of the season, though perhaps not in the way you’d imagine — they can’t seem to agree on whether they will or won’t be doing so. LeBron set the tone on media day by saying that people shouldn’t view it as a dirty word, only for Nick Nurse to say during camp that he doesn’t like the word sacrifice. Embiid built on that theme on Saturday, saying he doesn’t think they should worry so much about that concept as much as capitalizing on their opportunities.

“Everybody keeps talking about sacrificing, I don’t really see that as sacrificing,” Embiid said. “It’s just being the best version of yourself. I think when you put great players together, the standards you should have for yourself should be, whether it’s being more efficient, because obviously you might get less touches, but you might also get more space. So what are you going to do with that space?”

“Roles don’t even matter; it’s just about making the right play for each other over and over and over, finding a way to be, I think for me, more efficient than you’ve ever been…I don’t think anybody should be put in a box, just go out there, be yourself, good shot great shot bad shot, we all got each other’s back, we move on, we go get a stop.”

Ultimately, they all appear to be pushing in the same direction, and the talent is so blinding that they might win a ton of games even if that stops being true. With James looking physically fresh, Embiid moving better than he has in years, and the younger trio already cooking, this group has the makings of a special Philadelphia team. Enjoy the road ahead.

Scrimmage standouts

The athletic wings

See: above reel of included dunks and highlights for VJ Edgecombe. This kid is going to eat good playing off of their veteran stars, and anyone cashing in their stock after the LeBron signing is probably going to look pretty foolish.

Jaylen Brown had a pretty damn good afternoon himself, showing all the mismatch hunting ability he built up in Boston and some early synergy with Joel Embiid in ball-screen actions. Who would have guessed that one of last year’s All-NBA guys might look good?

LaBaron Philon

Philon’s day on offense was not pristine, and you wouldn’t have expected it to be with him going up against the full starting lineup and top of the rotation. But he hit at least a couple of catch-and-shoot jumpers, which is a critical skill for him in this group and was a huge part of his second-year growth in college. I can live with him missing some floaters and midrange jumpers in a scrimmage, as those shots will be harder to come by for him as a rookie.

More impressive for me was his competitive fire on defense, where he broke up several different possessions for LeBron and Brown in transition and half-court defense. Nurse has talked up his fight over the last week, but you had to wonder whether all that fight would matter when he was giving up 50 pounds and considerable height against some of the tougher matchups he’d face in the league. His active hands were a difference maker — keep an eye on this kid.

Ariel Hukporti

Hukporti flashed on both ends of the floor, stonewalling Embiid so hard on an early possession that Embiid talked about it after the game as motivation to go back down later and dunk the ball. Even better was the offensive diversity we saw from Hukporti, who hit a couple of Hartenstein-esque push shots from the lane on top of serving as a nice give-and-go passer from the post to set up Philly’s athletic guards and wings.

While Hukporti shares some of the same weaknesses as Adem Bona, this scrimmage showed a few of their differences, juicing up the backup center battle heading into the year.