Which member of the Sixers’ Big 5 will have to sacrifice most?

The 76ers are entering the 2026-27 season with an embarrassment of riches. LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe have formed a group that president of basketball Mike Gansey dubbed the “Big Five.”

They’ve said and done the right things this summer, from team workouts during the offseason to talking about their willingness to give for the greater good.

During a recent interview, Maxey was asked about Edgecombe potentially needing to sacrifice in his second season. Maxey rejected the idea and said every player on the team will need to take a step back. But that made The Inquirer wonder: Who will sacrifice the most this season?

With that in mind, our Sixers team offers insight on who will need to embrace the most change in order for this star-studded roster to succeed.

Never in his NBA career has Embiid had a usage rate below 32.9%, the statistic that calculates how often a team’s possessions end with the player generating a shot attempt, committing a turnover, or going to the free-throw line. Everyone else in the Sixers starting lineup has had fluctuations in their usage throughout their careers, while Edgecombe posted a usage rate of 20.1% as a rookie. Brown won a championship in 2024 alongside a higher-usage player in Jayson Tatum, while James had a career low in usage last season while ceding possessions to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves with the Lakers.

In other words, Embiid hasn’t often had to play in the NBA while not being the focal point of the offense or having the ball in his hands a lot. That likely will have to change this season. The seven-time All-Star center will have to make adjustments on how to impact the game more offensively while taking fewer shots and using the gravity he draws to generate good looks for his teammates.

If his 2024 Olympics performance alongside James is any indication, though, Embiid has shown he is willing to do that in the name of winning. Perhaps a lower usage rate in games also equates to less wear and tear on his body over the course of the season and will allow him a better chance of being in peak form come playoff time.

One of the luxuries for this Sixers team is that anyone in the starting lineup is capable of carrying the team at any given moment, on any given night. There will still be nights on which Embiid does that, but perhaps not as much as he has had to throughout his career.

Maxey was selected with the No. 21 pick in the 2020 NBA draft as a backup point guard to provide support for Ben Simmons and Shake Milton. During the subsequent regular season, he also played fewer minutes than Seth Curry and Furkan Korkmaz.

Let that sink in.

Of course, he did provide a few flashes that postseason and had a breakout of sorts in his second season, but the expectation still wasn’t for Maxey to become an All-NBA-caliber player. That changed in his fourth season, when he averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds and was named an All-Star (alongside Embiid) and Most Improved Player.

» READ MORE: No matter his role, VJ Edgecombe can’t wait to play with his new Sixers teammates

Since then, Maxey has become the franchise, making good on the nickname Embiid gave him early in his career. Now an All-NBA player and two-time All-Star, Maxey served as his team’s unquestioned leader for the past two seasons as Embiid and Paul George struggled to stay on the court. This offseason brought about more change with the additions of James and Brown, and no player on the roster will experience a bigger change to their existence than Maxey.

What does all that mean for him? He will be asked to share more than ever since becoming a star with the Sixers. He will share the ball, leadership responsibilities and accolades. He will be point guard for a new “Big Five″ in Philly after finishing fifth in NBA scoring at 28.3 points and maintaining a 28.6% usage rate, which sat among the top 30 players in the league last season. Brown, at 35.1%, was third behind Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. James wasn’t far behind Maxey at 27%.

Add that Brown, a former Eastern Conference and NBA Finals MVP, was tasked with helping lead the Sixers by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment president of sports Bob Myers and that James, one of the best players in NBA history, has been lauded for his ability to lead since he was a teenager. It will be Maxey’s job to keep Brown, James, and Embiid happy and continue to nurture the development of Edgecombe. Still, after getting the keys to franchise, Maxey will need to hand a piece of it back.