Now that the Sixers have locked in the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, it is time to get up to speed on all of the best non-Cooper Flagg prospects in this year's class.Today's prospect: Baylor guard/wing V.J. Edgecombe, an incredible athlete whose absurd highlight reel of flashy plays is matched by a whole lot of valuable basketball skills. Edgecombe, currently projected to be a top-five pick next month, will be 20 years old as an NBA rookie.Here to help educate us: Maxwell Baumbach, who writes about the draft extensively for No Ceilings, an excellent resource for all basketball fans. Be on the lookout for Maxwell's weekly columns there on Mondays — and, once you're done reading this Q&A, check out his in-depth Edgecombe scouting report published a few months ago, which will be linked at the bottom of this story.Let's dive in…Adam Aaronson: All it takes is a few minutes to tell that Edgecombe is a completely ridiculous athlete, capable of pulling things off that most players could never dream of. Beyond the absurdity of some of the highlights, can you contextualize how rare his athletic ability is? Maxwell Baumbach: To your point, Edgecombe is obviously a ridiculous athlete. But what makes him so intriguing is the functionality of that athleticism paired with his mental processing of the game. His combine drills graded out above average but weren’t anything out of this world. He’s not an Amen Thompson level athlete, for instance. But there are very few players who can combine Edgecombe’s athleticism with his instincts.For example, a guy like Alabama’s Grant Nelson blew his combine testing out of the water. When you put him in a drill, he can get to his spots at warp speed, which is meaningful for a guy who is 6-foot-10. When you watch him play, he has moments where it really shines. He’ll cover ground really fast on a closeout or roll really hard to the rim before soaring for a big dunk. But there’s a reason he’s projected as more of a second round/undrafted type guy. Part of it is skill, but part of it is functionality. Instinctually, he can be slow to process the game on defense. He misses rotations or is late to get into position. His raw tools enable him to test well, but when the actual game of basketball is being played, his traits bail him out more often than they allow him to be a difference maker.What makes Edgecombe so interesting is that he has speed, agility, and vertical bounce, but he applies it in a meaningful way. It’s one thing to be super athletic, but it’s another thing to be super athletic and know how to play basketball. Edgecombe can read passing lanes like a free safety, provide far more value as a low man defensively than most his size, and fly down the court in the open floor. He’s an excellent rebounder for someone his size. It’s not just that his athleticism is rare, but the combination of his athleticism, his motor, and his brain. Since 2008, only five high-major freshmen have posted a steal rate over three, a block rate over two, and registered 30 dunks: Zion Williamson, Ben Simmons, Josh Jackson, Nerlens Noel, and Edgecombe. That’s already rare, but then you factor in his size relative to those guys, and it becomes abundantly clear that Edgecombe is far from your average athletic guard prospect.AA: Edgecombe measured at 6-foot-4 barefoot with a 6-foot-7.5 wingspan and weighed in at 192 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine. The fact that he is more guard-sized than wing-sized has given some Sixers fans pause, as the ideal fit alongside Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and even Quentin Grimes would be someone capable of consistently taking on wing assignments on the defensive end of the floor. You have written about Edgecombe’s toughness and physicality as a defender, but the measurements are what they are. Do you think there is a path to Edgecombe defending wings regularly in the NBA, or is that too much of an ask given his size limitations?MB: To start on a positive note, the measurements were actually a bit better than anticipated. He’d previously had numbers of 6-foot-3 barefoot with a 6-foot-6 wingspan floating around, and Baylor listed him at 180 pounds. Relative to expectations, these numbers were a pleasant surprise.Still, from a 76ers standpoint, it’s not ideal when it comes to slotting him into the team’s young core. He did have trouble dealing with mismatches this past season, and while the added bulk should help him, I think the physicality of NBA wings and forwards will likely be too much for him to deal with early in his career. From a pure build standpoint, I don’t know that he’s ever going to get to a point where he’ll be best utilized against threes. It’s probably best to assume that he’ll be a guard defender, particularly during his rookie contract while he continues to fill out his frame. So yeah, I would say it’s a lofty ask, and he’d be a tricky fit in Philly given the current roster construction.With that being said, from a Best Player Available standpoint, I wouldn’t be quick to overlook him. It’s exceedingly difficult to find guys in the Alex Caruso/Keon Ellis/Josh Hart-ish mold who are this good this young. That’s a valuable archetype to have, particularly in the playoffs.
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AA: Edgecombe only made 34 percent of his three-point attempts at Baylor, but he shot them at good volume and made 78.2 percent of his free throws. If he landed with the Sixers, Edgecombe would likely be tasked with taking plenty of spot-up triples early in his career as he matures as an on-ball player. How would you see his shooting ability translating to a star-laden team like this one?MB: I think it’s actually a pretty ideal setup for him. Edgecombe’s shooting struggles came as a pull-up guy. His handle needs work, and his body comes unglued when transitioning from his dribble into his shooting motion. He’s often leaning all over the place during his off-the-dribble attempts. His core strength, coordination, and footwork need to come together in order for that to be a regular, reliable part of his arsenal.Off the catch, Edgecombe is really comfortable. He hit 36.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot threes, and most of his attempts were guarded. The mechanics are really consistent, repeatable, and functional. He’s decisive off the catch and gets the ball out quickly. Plus, he really elevates on his jumper and doesn’t fold in the face of hard closeouts. Even better, he shot a higher percentage from deep (39.1 percent) during Big 12 play on slightly higher volume, which is nice to see. Some guys can make threes earlier in the year when they’re getting clean looks against The Illinois College of Nursing and Mining A&M, but they’ll struggle when the game gets faster against better opposition. That didn’t happen with Edgecombe.
Speaking to his skill set as a whole, I think he’ll be best served in a role where he can start simple and expand as opposed to having a ton of usage heaped onto his plate. His shooting off the catch and snap decision-making should allow him to bring something serviceable to the table in the half-court offense front right away. He’s super trustworthy in a “.5 shoot it or move it” capacity. Given the nature of his shot, decisive mentality, and quick processing, I think he can complement what the Sixers have. Purely from a shooting/spacing standpoint, I think both parties bring something to the table for each other.
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AA: I believe one of the more underrated components of scouting is tracking where a player has already developed and made strides before their professional career has started. As someone who has been following Edgecombe and many other prospects all season long, where do you feel he grew the most between the start and the end of his year at Baylor?MB: The obvious one would be his shooting. Edgecombe went 30.4 percent from deep during the 2024 portion of the schedule before going 35.5 percent in games that took place in 2025. I think it speaks well to his mindset that he didn’t let the cold streak bother him. As Sixers fans, we know all too well how a lack of confidence from deep can inhibit a player’s upside.This next one is a little more difficult to parse out from a data standpoint, but I also thought he had fewer “bad” turnovers down the stretch. Early in the year, Edgecombe had a tendency to drive into heavy traffic and cough it up, particularly when using his off hand. As the year progressed, he was much better about reading the floor, reacting to help, and picking up the low-hanging fruit from a passing standpoint. If an easy, simple read was there, he was more likely to take it as opposed to forcing something inside. When looking at those two areas of his game, the fact that he never wavered in the face of adversity and he developed more comfort on the ball both speak well to his progression.Editor's note: You can read Maxwell's full scouting report of Edgecombe at No Ceilings here.
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