The star-studded Sixers take their first steps, starting with a ‘vision’ presentation from Nick Nurse

Nick Nurse began the 76ers’ 2026 training camp the same way he always has: with a 30-minute presentation of his “vision” for the season before players and coaches hit the practice floor.

It is safe to assume that Nurse sees immense potential in the group that, after adding LeBron James and Jaylen Brown during a stunning offseason, finally assembled in an official capacity Tuesday. Now they have begun their initial steps to put together this star-studded puzzle, including a practice Nurse described as competitive and defense-focused.

“From start to finish, the intensity never dropped,” standout second-year guard VJ Edgecombe added.

For now, outsiders must take the Sixers’ words for it. The massive media contingent was permitted to enter the gym only at the end of the practice and, by then, Edgecombe and newcomer Anfernee Simons were the only notable players still on the court going through individual shooting work.

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James emphasized during Monday’s media day that the revamped Sixers cannot expect to make “instant oatmeal,” that it takes “uncomfortable” repetition and “collective sacrifice” to turn on-paper talent into on-court contention. When James has changed teams during his historic 24-year career, they have traditionally gotten off to mediocre-to-shaky starts while figuring out roles and rhythm in real time. The goal, of course, is for the Sixers to be peaking in mid-April, not late September, as part of a suddenly deep Eastern Conference headlined by the defending champion New York Knicks.

Yet weeks before arriving in Camden, James and several other players attempted to begin building their foundation as Sixers.

Edgecombe boasted Monday about creating a get-to-know-you group chat when the Sixers traded for Brown — but had to ask All-NBA guard Tyrese Maxey to add James once he signed later that month. Though Maxey has consistently spent summers working out with James, a fellow Klutch agency client, this year they could experiment with two-man actions to run as teammates and drill nuances such as angles and the timing of cuts. Brown joined for some sessions that circulated on social media. Maxey also linked with Edgecombe and Simons for on-court work.

“That’s pretty dope in the summertime,” Maxey said. “That’s not common. … [We] tried to build that camaraderie early, and I think it’ll help us in the long run.”

The excitement from outsiders for the start of training camp also permeated the Sixers’ staff conversations leading up to Tuesday, Nurse acknowledged. The team chose not to go off-site for this week’s practices, with the coach half-joking that they are “still trying to recover” from last year’s preseason trip to Abu Dhabi.

Tactically, Nurse focused Tuesday on defensive fundamentals such as quickly setting up in transition and ending possessions by blocking out for a rebound. Those principles feed into his philosophy to win the possession battle by forcing turnovers and crashing the glass, and would be a welcomed complement to the Sixers’ offensive firepower.

And throughout Tuesday’s session, Nurse said, players’ “individual qualities [got to] shine at different moments.”

Former NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid was a full participant, which Nurse called “very, very good news” compared to how his health has entered previous training camps. James was a vocal “example-setter,” the coach added, while Brown looked like the All-NBA wing the Sixers recently competed against in the playoffs’ first round. Edgecombe said he did not move as timidly as in his first training camp last year.

“I want these guys to be who they are,” Nurse said. “I want them to not have rigid roles.”

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Perhaps nothing will be more valuable than the repetitions of the coming days and weeks, allowing players to organically learn teammates’ tendencies. Nurse is sure to tinker with various lineup combinations, acknowledging again Tuesday that the aging (and injury-conscious) James and Embiid will miss games throughout the season. On-the-floor communication and collaboration, between teammates and coaches, will lead into post-practice film study.

Those are all components of the initial steps for this star-studded roster with soaring outside expectations and attention. And with Tuesday’s much-anticipated “vision” presentation and first practice complete, Nurse stressed the need “to get up tomorrow, like 98% as excited as we did today.”

“It’s going to be hard to get as excited as we all were today, right?” Nurse said. “But we need to come back, and we need to keep climbing that mountain. That’s a daily process.”