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The Philadelphia 76ers’ 2024-25 campaign was disappointing. Star Center Joel Embiid’s season was plagued by injuries and the team ended with a 24-58 record, the third worst brand in the Eastern Conference.
Sixers held the third total committee in the 2025 NBA draft.
Cooper Flagg was the first prospect of getting out of the draft of the board, followed by the former Rutger’s standout Dylan Harper. Philly then chose VJ EdgeCombe at No. 3.
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VJ Edgecombe stands with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being chosen as the third choice of Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of 2025 NBA Draft in Barclays Center 25 June 2025. (Brad Penner/Imag images)
While the 19-year-old’s game could be mixed well with Sixers’ Backcourt, EdgeCombe had to overcome several obstacles from the field before hearing his name called draft evening.
Shortly after he walked across the stage inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, Edgecombe was asked about her mother’s emotional state when she saw her son’s NBA dream coming.
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“The long nights. … I lived a generator for seven years. I didn’t have electricity. I lived a generator for seven years,” said the former Baylor -Basketball star about some of the memories that stuck with him from childhood.
VJ EdgeCombe celebrates with his family after being drafted third together by the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2025 NBA draft June 25, 2025 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Ny (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
“To see what she had to go through just to feed us? Crazy,” Edgecombe added as he fought back tears.
While Flagg was considered as consensus -most prospect of this year’s draft, Sixers’ choice on No. 3 was not as clear.
Edgecombe admitted that he wasn’t quite sure he would hear his name called when the Sixers were on the clock.
VJ Edgecombe responds to stage after being chosen as the third choice of Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of 2025 NBA Draft in Barclays Center 25 June 2025. (Brad Penner/Imag images)
“No, I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “I was like, ‘I just live at the moment until they tell me to go there when I was at the table, like 15 seconds before they shed me before the commissioner called my name. They didn’t tell me anything. It was still up in the air about what was going on.”
EdgeCombe Averaging 15 points, 3.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds per Fight last season at Baylor.
