NBA fans have seen this before. A franchise puts together a roster of living legends and bona fide superstars, only to watch the team fall flat on its face. But on rare occasions, superteams actually work out, and the Philadelphia 76ers might just be one of those exceptions.
Philly has had an incredibly busy offseason. They went into the summer with a front line already anchored by Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and rookie standout V.J. Edgecombe. It was more than enough to get them to the playoffs, though still not enough to get them past the second round.
This has been a problem throughout the Embiid era in Philly. When he has led them to the playoffs, they always seem to stall out in the second round. It was long past time for the 76ers to make a big move to give them a real chance at finally pushing past that odd barrier.
Well, it doesn’t get much bigger than signing both Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in the same offseason. On top of that, Philly added Anfernee Simons, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Dean Wade, Ariel Hukporti, and Labaron Philon Jr. In many ways, this is a much different 76ers roster.
Superteams don’t always get the job done
What the new Philly front office has assembled is a legit superteam, one that should be able to make some noise in the playoffs. That hasn’t always been the case, as superteams are often not capable of winning the big one. Kevin Durant’s career has been an interesting examination of this phenomenon.
His first superteam was the Warriors with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. Durant won two titles with them before moving on to supposed superteams with the Nets and Suns. Both experiences were dead ends, leading to no significant success for him.
While each situation is different, the common thread is that too many big salaries on the front line lead to a lack of team depth. That is a major part of what waylaid the Nets’ and Suns’ respective superteams. The Warriors, on the other hand, had enough depth to win two titles without Durant.
The jury is still out on whether this 76ers superteam will be a bust or not. A major positive is that James is playing for a veteran minimum contract and Edgecombe is still on a rookie scale contract. This gave Philly the payroll space to maintain, if not build on, their depth.