Philadelphia's offseason reshaped the franchise in a matter of weeks. First came the trade: the Sixers sent Paul George to Boston in exchange for Jaylen Brown, a swap that instantly raised their ceiling. Then came the bigger domino. LeBron James, a free agent after ending his run with the Lakers, chose Philadelphia - a decision the Brown trade is widely credited with unlocking. The result is a starting five of James, Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and V.J. Edgecombe that many around the league are calling the best in the NBA. And it lands in the hands of Nick Nurse, a coach whose offensive creativity last season didn't always get the recognition it deserved. That's what makes this group so intriguing: not just the talent, but the mind that gets to arrange it.

One of the most intriguing options Nick Nurse can carry over from last season is his 4-out offense, with the center in the dunker spot. That setup gave Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe - as well as Paul George - plenty of spacing and a variety of ways to create, whether out of isolations without a screen or pick-and-rolls run from different angles. Another option is to reach the offensive payoff after a Thru action.

With a quartet like James (replacing Kelly Oubre Jr.), Brown (replacing Paul George), Maxey, and Edgecombe, the possibilities should be virtually unlimited.

The interesting wrinkle is that the Sixers leaned on this system mainly when Joel Embiid was out - which makes plenty of sense. It's hard to park one of the league's most dominant centers in the dunker spot without keeping him involved in the offense. The question is how many games Embiid will play next season and whether he'll adjust to not being the first option in Philadelphia's offense.

Watch: Sixers 4-out offense:

Here’s Nurse thoroughly explaining the philosophy behind the 4-out offense, plus driving options and set plays, in a coaching clinic:

The Pitch and Weave series

4-Out schemes are just one option; Fred Hoiberg popularized the Pitch series during his stint as Chicago Bulls head coach, a continuous DHO action that manipulates the defense to create spacing for drives or to act as a decoy for a ball screen. Nick Nurse leaned on pitches and old-school weave actions last season with Philadelphia, and those looks could be even more lethal with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in Philly's uniform.

Watch: the Sixers' Pitch and Weave series from the 2025-26 season

"Get": a handoff into a pin down

There are more options for LeBron and Brown out of the Sixers’ playbook. Here's one: a top-of-the-key handoff - "Get" - flowing into a pindown. Simple, yet effective. Nurse leaned on this set last season to flow Paul George into an iso or a downhill pick-and-roll. Now drop Brown or LeBron into that same read. Both fit perfectly.

  Watch the "Get" action in motion

Zoom into a UCLA cut

Here’s another action Nurse ran last season to create an isolation for Paul George, one that could fit both LeBron and Jaylen Brow: a Zoom action into a UCLA cut off a screen, with George receiving the ball between the corner and the block and finishing with a short jumper. Both Brown and LeBron love operating in these spots.

Watch the Zoom-into-UCLA action - diagrammed