LeBron James begins his 76ers era by making the stakes clear in Philly

That is the strange truth, and it still takes some getting used to. LeBron joined his new teammates for Sixers media day on Monday and finally spoke about the decision that took a lot of people by surprise, including pretty much everyone in Philadelphia. It was easy enough to imagine him returning to Cleveland once again for an encore performance or taking his talents back to South Beach for another go-round with the Heat.

You could even close your eyes and see him finally teaming up with Steph Curry in Golden State. By his own admission, he even saw a scenario where he finished his career in New York in front of fawning fans at Madison Square Garden. It was harder to envision him choosing the Sixers, a franchise that has not had much go right for the majority of its existence and certainly not over the last quarter century or so.

This is, of course, an organization that drafted not one but two first overall picks in Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz who promptly forgot how to shoot. They had to toss one of their general managers overboard due to a scandal now forever known as Burnergate. One of their players, Zhaire Smith, suffered a serious food allergy incident that left him "fortunate to survive" after he ate something at the team facility that he shouldn't have.

Adding to everyone's misery, they traded for Smith on draft day in exchange for Mikal Bridges, a local kid whom everyone loved and who eventually washed up in New York and won a championship with the hated Knicks. That is how things have gone for the Sixers. Also, they've been bad at basketball.

The last time the Sixers won a championship was in 1983. That was…a long time ago. Things don't usually work out for the Sixers.

And then, on a Friday in late July, LeBron James chose to sign with them. Players don't tend to willingly pick the Sixers -- and even when they do it hasn't always gone great. Paul George picked Philly, but mainly because the Sixers were offering the max when the Clippers didn't want to pay him anything close to that.