In a move that’s almost felt inevitable in recent weeks, the Sixers selected Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe with the third overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
When the Sixers were awarded the No. 3 pick during the NBA Draft Lottery, it was a sigh of relief that their top-six protected pick did not convey to the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. It also opened much speculation on what the team might do with Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Rutgers’ Dylan Harper being penciled in with the first two picks.
There was no trade up for Harper. No trade back for future draft capital. No trade for a veteran to help the current team. The Sixers chose to stick and pick and landed on Edgecombe as the guy at No. 3.
Edgecombe hails from the Bahamas and was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He chose Baylor over the likes of Duke, Connecticut and Michigan. In his freshman season with the Bears, he averaged 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. He was on the Big 12 All-Freshmen Team and All-Big 12 Second Team. He also won the conference’s Rookie of the Year.
The 19-year-old has rare athletic traits, featuring an explosive first step and excellent leaping ability. While he shot the ball OK at Baylor (34% from three), his ability as a catch-and-shoot threat should be real while he works on his pull-up jumper. The other area he’ll have to improve in is shot creation. He shows flashes of being a strong playmaker but has plenty of room to grow.
He has all the tools to defend at the NBA level right now — most importantly he’s expressed the desire to play defense and his goal is to excel as a rookie on that end of the floor.
Edgecombe ticks plenty of boxes for the Sixers as they thread the needle to build their roster for dual timelines. Edgecombe will offer elite athleticism and a dog mentality to help the likes of Joel Embiid and Paul George now. He also has potential to grow as a franchise cornerstone next to Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain.
Daryl Morey repeatedly expressed a desire to get younger and more dynamic in the midst of a nightmare 2024-25 season. He reiterated that at his end-of-season presser.
“I would say one of those things is I was very focused on finding veteran-type players who generally perform very well in the playoffs,” Morey said, “and I didn’t put enough emphasis on the team getting through the regular season. So next season, for sure, we will be a younger, more dynamic group.”
Edgecombe fits that bill.
NBA Insider Jake Fischer recently reported that the team was impressed with Edgecombe after a private workout a couple weeks ago. Maxey even flew back to Philly to be part of the contingent that had dinner with Edgecombe.
It won’t be a seamless fit for Edgecombe — who measured at 6-foot-4 without shoes at the combine — and the Sixers. With Maxey, McCain and likely Quentin Grimes in the fold, the team will be guard-heavy and skew on the smaller side. That could work out in Edgecombe’s favor as he can ease into the NBA and smooth out the rough edges of his game. Nick Nurse has shown a willingness to play smaller guards together and even deploy three-guard lineups. The hope is Edgecombe is good enough to force Nurse into making tough decisions and/or getting creative.
We’ll hear from Morey at a press conference once the first round concludes Wednesday night. The Sixers will be back at it again with the second round beginning Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. The team holds the 35th overall pick thanks to the Grimes-Caleb Martin swap with the Dallas Mavericks.
