Whether he meant to or not, Rich Paul offered some important context on why LeBron James chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.
James’ longtime agent said on his “Game Over” podcast that Tyrese Maxey’s presence was vital to the 76ers being able to land James. According to Paul, Maxey was important in convincing James that joining the Sixers would be the smoothest possible transition for James.
“When you add a LeBron, everything changes. That is why it is not easy for someone who is [deemed] to be a star player on a team, when he comes, he kind of shows you how big or little of a star you actually are,” Paul said, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “It takes a special kind of person to mentally embrace that. The familiarity with him and Tyrese, you don’t have to worry about that with Tyrese. They know each other, they embrace each other, they have been working out together for the last five years. So you won’t have any pushback. You can’t pay for that. You can’t put a value on that.”
In other words, James’ familiarity with Maxey, a fellow Klutch Sports client, meant that there were fewer concerns about whether James would fit in or disrupt the dynamics of the team. He did not have a similar relationship with anyone from the Cleveland Cavaliers or Miami Heat, and at least from Miami’s perspective, their star player seemingly did not try to establish one.
James will not be playing much longer, and will want to be able to win immediately instead of needing too much time for him and his new teammates to adjust to each other. That adjustment process may have been more complex had he gone elsewhere, and Paul makes it sound like a pretty big deal.
While the Sixers’ trade for Jaylen Brown got James’ attention, Maxey appears to be the one who sealed the deal. Clearly, they expect to fit together seamlessly.
