LeBron And Ben Simmons Teamed Up In A Pickup Game To Show What Could’ve Been In Philly

LeBron James reportedly considered four teams this summer as he entered free agency. The Cavaliers, Lakers, Rockets, and Sixers all had hopes of landing The King, with James ultimately choosing to head West for the first time in his career with the Lakers.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort from those in Cleveland, Houston, and Philadelphia (or for any of the other cities that wanted to acquire his services), but LeBron chose L.A., where he can play for and try to revitalize a storied franchise, as well as set up shop for the next four years in a permanent home with his family. The Sixers had the least to offer James personally, as he has no connection to the city, as he did in Cleveland and L.A. with homes already in both, and very little in the way of a connection with the young core of the team — unlike in Houston where his pals Chris Paul and, now, Carmelo Anthony play.

However, Philadelphia could offer the best package of money and ability to compete in the immediate, which made them seem like the best on-court option for LeBron in the eyes of many. A major reason for that is the young, dynamic duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, with Simmons often being compared to LeBron as a playmaker at his size. Seeing Simmons and LeBron sharing the ball-handling load and working off of a dominant big man in Embiid would’ve been a lot of fun, but sadly we won’t get to see that happen for at least four years (and, likely, ever).

While we won’t get any NBA action featuring James and Simmons, on Thursday, the two teamed up to give us a little glimpse of what the duo could’ve looked like in Philly during a pickup game with trainer extraordinaire Chris Brinkley.

A lot of this footage is just LeBron doing LeBron things and Simmons doing Simmons things, but you can see in a few of the clips the two working off of each other and how deadly it could be. The way both attack the basket with such fury would make for quite the challenge when one drew the defense and kicked to the other who may attack a now scrambling defense. The bad news, of course, is that for the time being, the only way you can continue to watch this partnership blossom is in a video game.