Delonte West: “We were playing Cleveland, out in Seattle, the first month of the season, and I was cooking them. I remember we were sitting at the foul line, and LeBron James, he was like, man, I followed you in college. You remember that time I came to Philly at the Palestra to watch you play? And I was like, yeah, I remember. He was like, man, you want to come play with Cleveland? I thought he was just doing a veteran trick. (…) I thought he was just trying to get me out of my game by getting familiarity. But he was serious. He asked me to come play with Cleveland.”
ast year’s simulation proved to be shockingly accurate. Not only did NBA 2K26 predict the Knicks to win the NBA Finals and Jalen Brunson to be named NBA Finals MVP, it also nailed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s repeat bid for MVP, Victor Wembanyama’s Defensive Player of the Year nod and Cooper Flagg’s Rookie of the Year victory. It even had the Wizards as the league’s worst team, albeit with half of the wins the real-life version managed to muster.
For those new to this series, here are the rules: We select one team, at random (Miami Heat) and run through a MyEras season with CPU trade offers turned off, with G-League, scouting and rotational decisions set to automatic. The simulation is halted to record the NBA Cup winner, at the end of the regular season and before the NBA Finals.
(Disclaimer: Although the NBA has ruled in the Kawhi Leonard-Clippers investigation, Leonard’s trade to the Raptors remains in limbo, so for this simulation he is still a member of the Clippers roster.)
Much like last year, before the simulation fully got underway, we were prompted that LeBron James would be retiring — despite signing a two-year deal with the Sixers — and offered the option to have him do a retirement tour.
Since we’d be simulating everything anyway, we declined.
That housekeeping item aside, there’s no way to sugarcoat how James’ first — and perhaps only — season with the Sixers went, according to NBA 2K27. In what will wind up being his age-42 season, James played 77 games and finished with career lows in minutes per game (30.5), points (16.9) and assists (4.9). Even his rebounding average (5.6) was the lowest total since his rookie season.
If James’ struggles weren’t enough of a surprise, the revamped Sixers were the biggest shocker of the entire simulation, and not in a good way. Philadelphia, after adding James and trading for Jaylen Brown, finished 14th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 27-55. Brown’s scoring took a major dip, dropping more than seven points per game, and his scoring (21.5) and assist (3.3) averages were the lowest since the 2019-20 season.
Injuries did not play a major role in Philadelphia’s nightmare season, as only Tyrese Maxey missed significant time (20 games) of the projected starting lineup of Brown, James, Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and Joel Embiid.
Considering the talent and level of expectations surrounding the 76ers, this was easily the least feasible outcome of anything that happened in the 2K27 simulation.