It’s hard to hear after a division rival took over their building and swept them out of the playoffs, but the 2025-26 season was a pretty high-end outcome for the Sixers. They beat the Boston Celtics in a playoff series, Joel Embiid has felt as good as he has about his left knee since January 2024, but most importantly, they had a 20-year old rookie sensation.
VJ Edgecombe officially ends his rookie season having averaged 16 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game shooting 43% from the field
and 35% from the field. He averaged 14 points per game in his first 11 playoff games.
For all these reasons, the Sixers themselves felt pretty good about their season after their Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks. During his exit interview, Embiid was talking about the example he tries to set for the younger players, and went on a long tangent about Edgecombe’s potential while doing so.
“VJ is up next. Philly got a good one in him,” Embiid said. “He’s the guy. I’m telling you guys, that guy is something different and this was only year one. Year two is gonna be better, year three even better.”
Embiid would go on to call him a “monster” later in his presser.
Every Sixer asked about Edgecombe is confident in his improvement year-over-year. It’s all the intangibles he flashed all season that impressed his teammates so much — and why they so often say he is not the average rookie.
“Usually, guys improve quite a bit from year one to year two,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “I would imagine with his work ethic and stuff, he’ll have a good summer.”
Edgecombe responded to Embiid’s comments the exact way anyone who’s been around him so far would expect him to.
“It’s great, but the work has to be put in, I have to continue putting in the work,” he said. “I really love my teammates and I really love all the good things they say about me, but yes, I gotta keep putting in the work, keep getting better.”
A young guard with a crazy work ethic drafted after a disastrous season is a familiar story with this team. Tyrese Maxey recognized those similarities as he sat next Edgecombe at the podium.
“Probably like two, three years ago I sat up here with Joel and I sat up here with James [Harden] and they saw something in me,” Maxey said, “and I guess I’m getting old now, because I’m sitting up here with VJ and I’m just happy to be a part of his journey.”
All three of the Sixers’ max contract stars have had their impact on Edgecombe in one way or another. Paul George did a lot of mentoring Edgecombe as a defender, but he feels the experience Edgecombe was able to get with a full playoff run as a rookie was invaluable.
“I’m kind of here to help improve the process,” George said, “but the parts that you want out of it, he’s experienced it, so that’s the positive. And I think he’ll know where he needs to take it and what we need from him going down for years to come.”
Edgecombe already has a list of things he wants to work on to improve for next year. He wants to get better on the ball. He mentioned his handle, but shooting is something he definitely wants to improve on.
“Go in the gym and just get better,” he said. “Coming into next year a team won’t ever leave me open, you know?”
All of his teammates are confident he will get there because of how hard he works, but it takes a real grinder for someone like Maxey to praise his work ethic.
“He works too hard and he wants it too much,” Maxey said. “You can’t ask for anything better than that, and the city should really just rally behind it and just be excited.”
It’s very unusual for a team to convey this much excitement after getting swept out of the second round of the play0ffs.
But as Edgecombe showed time and time again throughout his rookie season, he is not a usual player.
