PHILADELPHIA — Three weeks before the games begin to matter, Jaylen Brown went live on Twitch, watched footage of himself, LeBron James, and Tyrese Maxey running sets at a Los Angeles training facility, and delivered the sentence that will follow Philadelphia through the winter.
“LeBron is in his Kobe year, year 24. And we in the birthplace of the Bean. Come on dog, the energy is there.”
Brown was referencing Kobe Bryant’s final season, when the 37-year-old found one more way to make his farewell campaign memorable in Los Angeles. The comparison is imperfect. Bryant scored 60 points in his last game; James, at 41, is being asked to initiate offense, defend opposing wings, and carry the weight of a city that has never had a player quite like him. Still, the parallel landed because it captured something real. This season carries a historical gravity rarely visible in September workout footage.
New video of the 76ers’ three-star core, released this week, shows James, Brown, and Maxey working through pick-and-roll reads, cutting through half-court sets, and finishing at the rim with the natural fluency of elite individual players. In one sequence, Brown delivered an underhand lob from the elbow to James, who caught it and scored. The clip spread because it was thrilling. It also revealed very little about the team Philadelphia will become.
What it does establish is that the principals are healthy, engaged, and building chemistry before training camp demands it. Brown praised both teammates during the stream, calling Maxey “a dog” and saying of James, “You don’t even need to say what LeBron is. He looked good, healthy.” Brown added that the group had worked out together several times, not just once. Maxey confirmed the atmosphere, joking that James — who typically arrives early — probably beat everyone to the gym because the older players “need a little bit more stretching.”
Bleacher Report captured the stream reaction, in which Brown narrated the workout clip and repeatedly returned to one word: energy. “The energy level is high, the talent is high. We’ve just got to come with the right approach.”
Philadelphia constructed this roster to end a drought that dates to 1983. The front office acquired Brown from Boston, signed James in free agency, and brought Embiid back into a contract designed to keep him present through May. The opening assignment reflects what is expected: on October 20, James and his new teammates visit Madison Square Garden for Knicks banner night, opening the season against the defending champions on their biggest night of the year. There is no low-key version of that schedule.
Brown arrived in Philadelphia with the kind of explicit confidence that makes teammates either energized or uncomfortable. Earlier this month he said he wanted blood, not a motivational cliche but a predator’s statement about the competitive standard he intends to impose. Those words landed in Philadelphia because the city runs on that frequency. The question is whether the regular season produces enough friction to distinguish the real version of that declaration from the one delivered in late summer.
Training camp opens September 29. It will be the first time all four cornerstones share a floor in a structured coaching environment. The roster around them was built for excellence at the top, not depth at the bottom; the backup center spot required signing Tacko Fall, a 7-foot-6 player who spent last season competing in New Zealand. That architecture works when four stars are available and functional, and becomes fragile the moment one is not.
The latest workout footage should be understood for what it is: not a scouting report, but an announcement. The people who put this team together are serious. The players who agreed to play together here are serious. September is when that seriousness becomes visible. October is when it gets tested.
Brown understood this when he framed the session around Kobe’s final year in Los Angeles. He was not drawing a comparison about decline. He was reaching for the version of late-career that means something: a player who has nothing left to prove going somewhere that still demands proof, and finding one last way to deliver. James chose Philadelphia. Philadelphia has not held a trophy since Moses Malone.
Nineteen days until camp. Forty days until banner night at Madison Square Garden.
