The last time we saw the Philadelphia 76ers, they were getting swept out of Xfinity Mobile Arena by the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs. And the Knicks’ fans who took over the building added to the embarrassment, talking smack and gleefully celebrating another season of demise in Philly.The 76ers looked stuck heading into the offseason. Joel Embiid and Paul George were on big contracts. And that meant Philadelphia seemingly had very little wiggle room for potentially improving the roster. Another year of relative mediocrity and a second-round exit from the postseason seemed to be the ceiling. Another season of durability issues, surrounded by the hope of health, looked to be on tap.On Friday morning, the Philadelphia 76ers became NBA title contenders.In a little over two months, the Sixers hired a new president of basketball operations in Mike Gansey and proceeded to turn in one of the biggest lemons-to-lemonade offseason leaps in NBA history. A team with no financial flexibility, the No. 22 pick in the NBA Draft, a few tradable first-round picks and a bloated financial commitment at the top of the roster became one of the most talented teams in the league.How did Philadelphia get to this point? How did a team seemingly stuck in the middle vault itself to the top by adding LeBron James, who at 41, is still one of the best players in the league? The Sixers were aggressive. They refused to take no for an answer. They recruited their collective tails off. They were resilient when it came to a big trade. And then, they played the waiting game.Why LeBron James chose the Philadelphia 76ersJoe Vardon and Jeshua KiddAs a league source, granted anonymity to discuss negotiations freely, told The Athletic on Friday morning, the 76ers became the chosen ones because they became the team best equipped to help James win a fifth NBA title. They were the team talented enough for James to commit to a two-year, $8 million contract, with the second season being a player option. And they were the team that would benefit most from the many talents that James provides.On paper, this team has a chance to be almost historically good offensively. Tyrese Maxey. Embiid. Jaylen Brown. VJ Edgecombe. James. There is no weak spot in terms of skill set. And the Sixers are now almost perfectly constructed to work around Embiid’s health issues and likely absences.Friday morning became a day in Philly lore when you could look back in 20 years and ask, where were you when you heard the news? For as much as the city of Philadelphia loves its basketball team, for as much as Xfinity rocked last season during a first-round playoff series with the Boston Celtics, this city hasn’t had many elite NBA teams to root for.The 1983 squad that won Philly’s most recent title and took out the Los Angeles Lakers is probably the most talented team in Sixers history. Julius Erving. The late, great, Moses Malone. Bobby Jones. Maurice Cheeks. Andrew Toney. That team went 65-17 during the regular season and lost only one game in the playoffs. The 2001 Allen Iverson team that went to the NBA Finals is one of the most beloved teams in franchise history. And the 2019 team was the most talented team of the Embiid era.This 2026 team has a chance to be a movie. Will there be quirks? Yes. Will it be easy? Absolutely not, especially with the Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder out there. But the Sixers are now not only in the title conversation; they are at the forefront.James was mostly quiet through his free agency. But his flair for the dramatic certainly showed on Friday. His Instagram post announcing his signing with the Sixers came against the backdrop of Meek Mill’s Philly anthem “Dreams and Nightmares.” In a way, that’s a symbol of what his potential run in Philly has a chance to be. This is a franchise that hasn’t won a title in almost 50 years. James has brought a title to every franchise he has played for. From that standpoint, there will be significant pressure, even in a lesser role, for James to do the same.If it doesn’t happen, James opens himself up to criticism that wouldn’t have existed if he’d chosen the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat or even the Golden State Warriors. He’s won titles in Cleveland and Miami. He wouldn’t have been expected to win one in Golden State. That choice would have just been for vibes. But James wants to cement himself with a fifth title. He doesn’t want to simply play out the final days of his career. He wants to have the opportunity to win.What he won’t have to do is score at the level he’s been accustomed to. Maxey and Brown were two of the best scorers in the NBA last season. Embiid continues to be one of the best and most efficient scorers in the league. The irony of James being the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is that his playmaking may be his best skill. The 76ers don’t need LeBron James the scorer. They need LeBron James the playmaker.A star-studded roster will need to find its legs on the floor and in a star-studded locker room. But this is an offseason that evolved slowly and under the radar. When Gansey’s first signing was defensive specialist Dean Wade, it seemed as if the Sixers were simply trying to improve on the margins and within the financial constraints of the roster. Then came the first bombshell — trading George and multiple first-round picks for Brown.Where does the Jaylen Brown trade rank in NBA history?The Athletic NBA Staff and Jeshua KiddHad the Sixers stopped there, and with the Anfernee Simons signing, they still would have been in the Eastern Conference conversation. Maxey and Brown are both All-NBA-level talents. Edgecombe is primed to take a leap after a terrific rookie season. But the Sixers went all out in their recruitment of James.As league sources told The Athletic, Embiid, Maxey and Brown were central figures in keeping in contact with James throughout his free agency, with Embiid going so far as to promise he would do everything in his power to get his body in playing shape. With the Brown trade, Gansey and the Sixers’ front office put themselves into the mix for James. As first reported by The Athletic on the night the Brown trade went through, Philly reached out to James’ camp to gauge the four-time MVP’s interest.What James gives the Sixers is a margin for error Philly hasn’t had in quite some time. Suddenly, this team is not reliant on Embiid’s health. Suddenly, this team is so much more matchup-proof than a season ago. Sacrifices will have to be made. There are six offensive alphas in terms of usage, if you count Simons, and there is one basketball. Coach Nick Nurse will have to figure out his lineups and rotations. But James will have to tie it all together for this team to reach its ceiling.That James is open to playing a second season in Philadelphia is notable. The windows in today’s NBA are small. And Philly’s, in this case, will be from year to year. But Gansey will have options to make improvements where needed, particularly at the trade deadline.Still, those are thoughts for another time. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declared Friday as LeBron James Day in the state. Indeed, James immediately becomes one of the biggest acquisitions in the history of Philly sports.