The Sixers were at the forefront of the sensation that was the 2025 rookie class. They immediately slotted No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe into the starting lineup on opening night and played him 35 minutes a night. Edgecombe’s production correlated with team success all season as Philadelphia made it back to the playoffs and won a round.
They certainly did not get as much instant success from their second-round pick. At No. 35 overall, the Sixers selected Johni Broome out of Auburn. The 6-foot-8
forward was an interesting prospect to say the least. He had just carried his Tigers to the National Championship, but was set to turn 23 years old just weeks after being drafted and had some really troubling measurables coming out of the combine.
It wasn’t a shock that Broome spent more of his rookie season with the Delaware Blue Coats than the main club. He played in 18 games with the Coats compared 11 for the Sixers. In only one of those 11 games did Broome see minutes in non-garbage time.
Even in blowouts with the benches emptied, Broome looked concerningly a step behind the competition on the floor. This was most notable in the game he got the most extended run, a game in which he played 17 minutes in a 41-point loss to the Orlando Magic.
His 2-of-9 performance that night is a big reason he ended his rookie season shooting 16% from the field. Despite hardly ever seeing an NBA floor the rest of the season, Broome was able to go through the proper rite of passage for a Sixers rookie. He tore his meniscus in late February, sinking chances he had at getting reps in Delaware down the stretch of the season as well.
Broome did get cleared to return for the end of the season, but only appeared again in a couple fourth quarters in the second round of the playoffs in which the New York Knicks had thoroughly smashed the Sixers. Broome’s rookie season ended with him averaging 0.9 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.
The playing time and production are so minute it’s impossible to really evaluate, and yet at the same time it still feels bad enough to be concerning. He simultaneously didn’t get much of a chance at the NBA level yet did enough to make his detractors already write him off.
There’s already a debate over how bad of a miss it was drafting Broome at 35. On one hand, it’s only a second-round pick, but a pick as high as 35 is often viewed a little more highly.
There was only one player to go after Broome in the second round who was an obvious, that being Maxime Raynaud of the Sacramento Kings. As a center, Raynaud was an easy draft miss Broome skeptics pointed to given the uncertainty that is Joel Embiid’s health status. It didn’t help that Raynaud made Second Team All-Rookie.
No NBA career should be judged by the first 11 games alone. Broome did at least have some success in Delaware. Over eight games he averaged more than 19 points a game, including a 50-burger in February just weeks before he injured his knee. Removing his G-League production though, Broome has yet to show any real flash at the professional level.
