October 05, 2026
Colleen Claggett/For PhillyVoice
LeBron James expressed a desire to play in the preseason on Saturday, but added that he did not want to "overdo" it.
LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Anfernee Simons, Dominick Barlow, Adem Bona and Tacko Fall will be sidelined for the Sixers' preseason opener on Monday:
Per the @sixers, here are the players who will be available to play in tonight’s preseason opener against the Knicks: pic.twitter.com/VDD8JZU4Fb
— Matt Murphy (@Matt_Murphy04) October 5, 2026
"We certainly want them to get out there and play," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said on Tuesday before mentioning that the Sixers will confer with their key players before making any decisions about preseason usage. "...I think they'll all get out there, and I would say, kind of like we've done in the past, the guys that are available would play a bit in the first half. The second half, probably looking at the other guys and all that stuff. But as we get closer to the end, we want to get some time out there together, for sure."
After playing in front of Philadelphia fans for the first time at Saturday's Blue x White Scrimmage, James was asked how important suiting up in the preseason was to him. He said "resting up" helped some, but he wanted to get on-court work in without pushing the envelope too much.
"What do we have, four preseason games? So, it'd be good to get out there with some of our guys to just get a rhythm," James said. "At the same time, also not overdo it, because we're putting a lot into our practices right now, fine-tuning what we want to do once the games come. But there'll be opportunities when we get out there in the preseason."
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