The Sixers' Wednesday Lineup Looks Like a 2K MyLeague Fever Dream

The Philadelphia 76ers are officially starting Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid on Wednesday. That does not sound like a real basketball team. That sounds like a 2K MyLeague save where you turned off the salary cap and traded future draft picks until the year 2045.

According to Underdog NBA, this is the actual group taking the floor against the Detroit Pistons. If you are holding a ticket on any Pistons player props, you might want to check the cash-out options. You are looking at a starting five that features three guys who could casually drop 40 on any given night, plus a second-year guard in Edgecombe who just gets to stand in the corner and watch basketball history happen.

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

The numbers completely back up the absurdity. Philadelphia is sitting at 7-1 with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Maxey is currently torching the league with 29.1 points per game, while Embiid is pulling down 9.2 boards and LeBron is casually handing out 7.3 assists. They also boast the second-best defensive rating in the NBA at 105.4, which makes perfect sense when you remember they have Brown locking down the perimeter.

This is the kind of roster construction that makes opposing coaches stare blankly at their clipboards during timeouts. How exactly do you scheme for this? If you double Embiid in the post, you are leaving LeBron or Brown open. If you try to run them off the three-point line, Maxey is going to blow past your point guard like he is running on an airport moving walkway.

We get to see this video-game lineup tested immediately against a surprisingly competent 6-1 Pistons squad on Wednesday night. If Detroit somehow survives this gauntlet, we might need to have a serious conversation about the Eastern Conference hierarchy. If not, the rest of the league is officially playing for second place.