For Doc Rivers, LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers are not fully guaranteed to win it all next NBA season.
While the Sixers are stacked and loaded with potential, the former NBA coach and newly enshrined Hall of Famer believes that talent is not enough to work their way out and secure the championship.
“I know some of the guys pretty closely, but you just don't know," Rivers said. "The one thing I've learned anything about winning is that if your whole group is not ready to win, I mean every single guy, you're not winning. It's just not gonna happen.
"You saw this year with the Knicks. Game 2 or 3, and all of a sudden in the Atlanta series, they changed. They started not giving themselves up, scoring, what in the issue of who had the ball and all that stuff has to come together to win hard."
Stacked 76ers set to adjust, sacrifice to win NBA title
As the absolute winners of this year's offseason, the Philadelphia 76ers have built what might be the most talented five-man lineup in the NBA entering the 2026-27 season.
After landing the Jaylen Brown blockbuster trade, the 76ers secured the free agency commitment of LeBron James, which makes the team with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe even more formidable.
However, even if they might be viewed as one of the top-tier title-contending teams, several key members of the Sixers will be pressed to make significant adjustments.
With Brown and James coming in, the 76ers will feature four NBA stars who averaged more than 20+ points in the past NBA season. Tyrese Maxey (28.3) and Joel Embiid (26.9) have led the Sixers in scoring, while Brown ranked fourth in the league last year with his 28.7-point average.
As such, James tallied 20.9 points in his last season for the Los Angeles Lakers.
With their main goal being to bring Philadelphia its first NBA title since 1983, it will be interesting to see how the 76ers' highly anticipated season slowly unfolds.