Sixers Roll Out Absurd Generational Starting Lineup Against Cavs

The Philadelphia 76ers are rolling out a starting five on Thursday that looks less like a basketball team and more like a fantasy draft fever dream.

According to Underdog NBA, Philadelphia will start Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Underdog NBA: 'Lineup alert: Sixers will start Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, LeBron, Embiid on Thursday.'"

This lineup spans so much basketball history it practically requires a carbon date. LeBron had already completed two NBA seasons and won Rookie of the Year before Edgecombe was even born in the summer of 2005.

The sheer draft pedigree here is objectively hilarious. You have four top-three picks sharing the floor, a feat that has only happened a handful of times in the last 30 years of the league.

LeBron went first overall in 2003, while Embiid, Brown, and Edgecombe all went third in their respective classes. Maxey is the only guy who had to wait until pick 21, making him the blue-collar grinder of a group that has combined for five MVP awards and 36 All-Star appearances.

Philadelphia is coming off a 106-100 opening-night win over the New York Knicks where Maxey dropped 28 points and Embiid grabbed 11 boards. Anyone looking at the prop market for Thursday has to figure out how this absurd collection of talent actually shares the basketball.

Jaylen Brown going from battling LeBron in the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals to starting alongside a 41-year-old version of him is the exact kind of script a studio executive would reject for being too unrealistic.

We will see how this generational mashup actually functions when they tip off against the Cleveland Cavaliers. If they click, the rest of the Eastern Conference is in for a long winter. If they look clunky, the timeline is going to have an absolute field day.