Cleveland Cavaliers open their 2026-27 season against Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown only one game into their partnership.

Philadelphia beat New York 106-100 on Tuesday, while Cleveland have played nothing but preseason since a four-game defeat by the same opponents in the Eastern Conference finals.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Philadelphia 76ers form and outlook

Cleveland finished the regular season 4th in the East and survived two seven-game series, beating Toronto and then Detroit from 0-2 down.

New York then swept them, which is why only one win appears in the Cavaliers' last five competitive games.

James Harden arrived from the Clippers in February in the trade that sent Darius Garland to Los Angeles, and he now plays alongside Donovan Mitchell for a full season.

Peyton Watson, signed from Denver in a sign-and-trade, is projected to start, while Mario Hezonja returns to the NBA after more than 2,200 days away.

Philadelphia's last five games are four play-off defeats by New York followed by Tuesday's win, in which Maxey scored 28 points, Brown 19 and James 14 with nine rebounds and seven assists in 34 minutes.

Preseason told us little, with Cleveland going 1-2 and Philadelphia 1-3, although the 76ers shot only 27.8% from three across those four games and Cleveland shot 34.9%.

On last season's numbers, Cleveland's advantage lies on offence, with a net rating of +4.1 against -0.1 for Philadelphia.

The gap comes from scoring and passing rather than defence, since the two sides' defensive ratings sit within 0.3 of each other.

Philadelphia's figures carry the least weight, because Brown, James, Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did not play for them last season.

Cleveland were 25-16 on the road last season, scoring 119.9 points and conceding 116.2 away from home.

The rest picture favours the Cavaliers, who have been idle since preseason, while Philadelphia play for the second time in three nights without being on a back-to-back.

What is the team news for Cavaliers vs. 76ers?

Cleveland's main doubt is Sam Merrill, who shot 42.1% from three last season and is a game-time decision with right elbow soreness.

Khalifa Diop is also a game-time decision with a knee problem and has yet to play for the Cavaliers, while Nae'Qwan Tomlin is out with a lower back stress reaction.

Philadelphia list Dominick Barlow, Tacko Fall and Ariel Hukporti as out, with Hukporti ruled out for the season by a ruptured right Achilles, which leaves Joel Embiid and Adem Bona as the main interior options.

Dean Wade, who spent seven seasons in Cleveland before signing for Philadelphia over the summer, is out with a left ankle sprain on some listings and a game-time decision on others.

Cleveland are projected to start Harden, Mitchell, Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, while Philadelphia are projected to start Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Brown, James and Embiid.

Simons scored 13 points and Caldwell-Pope 10 off the Philadelphia bench on Tuesday, while rookie Labaron Philon Jr. did not play and Jabari Walker is also available for minutes in the frontcourt.

Cavaliers vs. 76ers matchups that could decide it

Mitchell and Maxey both scored close to 28 points a game last season and both are likely to take the heaviest shot loads, although Maxey now shares creation duties with James and Brown.

Embiid faces Mobley and Allen for most of the night, and after shooting 4-of-15 in New York he will want a cleaner outing against Cleveland's two-big pairing.

Best Cavaliers vs. 76ers player props

Cavaliers vs. 76ers head-to-head record

Cleveland won all four meetings last season, by 11, 26, two and 14 points.

The closest came on 16 January, when Jaylon Tyson scored a career-high 39 points and Mobley dunked the winner with 4.8 seconds left, despite 33 points from Embiid.

Those games came with different rosters on both sides, so the sides' next two meetings, one of which is in the NBA Cup group stage in November, will tell us more about the new-look 76ers.

Our Cavaliers vs. 76ers tips and prediction

We expect Cleveland to edge a slow-paced game, as their rotation arrives intact at the top while Philadelphia are still working out how to share the ball between James, Brown, Maxey and Embiid.

The under is the harder call, since Cleveland's road games averaged 236.1 combined points last season, but those games featured a rotation that has since lost Garland, Max Strus and Dennis Schroder.

A narrow Cavaliers win would give them a good start to the NBA schedule, with a home game against Brooklyn on Saturday to follow.