Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says 76ers' success will come down to 'us liking each other'
Philly's star-studded lineup will require everyone to sacrifice some if they're going to make it work
• 2 min read
The last few seasons have seen the decline of the traditional superteam in the NBA, but the loaded Philadelphia 76ers are attempting to buck those trends with a roster stuffed to the brim with veteran talent. LeBron James and Jaylen Brown joined Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey on a roster that reached the second round of the postseason a year ago. Recent No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe, mid-level signings Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade and two-time NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope round out one of the NBA's most talented rosters.
So talented are the 76ers, in fact, that Caldwell-Pope's belief coming into the season is that personal dynamics will ultimately determine the success or failure of the team.
"Our chemistry is gonna be the biggest part for us," Caldwell-Pope said on Monday, via ESPN. "Us liking each other, being able to be around each other and have fun on and off the court."
Caldwell-Pope knows a thing or two about championship chemistry. He won a title alongside James playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, then won another one with Nikola Jokić in Denver. Both of those teams declined, in part, because of personal dynamics after Caldwell-Pope left. The Lakers made an ill-fated trade for Russell Westbrook in 2021 that effectively closed their championship window, while Denver fired both its head coach and general manager late in the 2024-25 season in part over their inability to work together cohesively.
Fellow members of the 76ers have echoed this sentiment. "It's a lot of guys with talent and egos," Brown explained at his introductory press conference. "But to win, you got to be able to sacrifice and have trust and communication." The notion of sacrifice was a theme at James' media day appearance as well. "The luxury of my game is I can do everything," he said. "Literally, I can do everything."
The math makes plain that there will need to be on-court sacrifices. The projected five-man starting lineup of James, Maxey, Brown, Embiid and Edgecombe has a combined 134% career usage rate. Everyone is giving up shots and touches, and that can lead to difficult adjustments on the court and resentments that bubble up off of it. While there are basketball concerns that the team will need to solve over the course of the season, keeping everyone on the same page and engaged while they're working through those bumps will be paramount. You're far more likely to sacrifice for teammates that you actually like, so Caldwell-Pope has a point in that regard.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.