How are the Nets affected by LeBron James signing with the 76ers?

· Yahoo Sports

The Brooklyn Nets have been making various moves over the course of the 2026 NBA offseason to try to improve the roster following a 2025-26 season in which they finished with a 20-62 record. Brooklyn has been determined to remain patient over the course of this current rebuild, but a recent move may increase the chances of them getting an extra first-round pick in the future.

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ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania announced on Friday that future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James will be signing with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal with the second year being a player option. While the Nets were likely low on James' list of prospective teams due to their current rebuild, the good news about James signing with the 76ers means that fans in the Tri-state area will be able to see him play more often.

More to the point, the Nets have control of Philadelphia's first-round pick in the 2028 NBA Draft, assuming that the pick falls outside of the top-8 selections for that year. Brooklyn originally received the 76ers' first-round pick in 2028 (top-8 protected) as a result of the trade that sent guard James Harden to Philadelphia and brought Ben Simmons to the Nets during the 2021-22 season.

The only way the Nets would not receive the 76ers' first-round pick in 2028 would be if Philadelphia finished with a poor-enough record to reward them with a pick in the top-8. However, the 76ers finished with the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference (45-37), but they managed to make it to the second round of the NBA playoffs, meaning that adding James and Jaylen Brown into the fold should only make them more competitive.

As it stands as of this writing, the Nets will have two first-round picks in 2027 (own and via the New York Knicks) and in 2028 (own and via the 76ers). While Philadelphia could have went in a different direction with Paul George approaching the end of his career, the 76ers managed to take advantage of the Boston Celtics trying to unload Brown and now, Brooklyn is essentially more assured of getting a second first-round pick in 2028.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: How are the Nets affected by LeBron James signing with the 76ers?

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