New Delhi, July 30 -- PHILADELPHIA - Rich Paul closed the biggest free-agency deal of the summer with a group message to the Philadelphia 76ers. "Congrats. Sixers it is." Then he walked in front of reporters and declined to call his client's new team the best in the league.

"The Sixers aren't favorites to win it all," Paul told reporters. "I don't think they are the best team in the league."

That gap, between what an agent negotiates and what he will publicly defend, is the organizing tension of Philadelphia's 2026 offseason. The 76ers added LeBron James on a two-year, $8 million deal on July 24. They acquired Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics. On Thursday, they traded Johni Broome and a second-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers ...