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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 finished with a 24-58 record, the third-worst mark in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers held the third overall selection in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Cooper Flagg was the first prospect to come off the draft board, followed by former Rutgers standout Dylan Harper. Philly then selected VJ Edgecombe at No. 3.
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VJ Edgecombe stands with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the third pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center June 25, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
While the 19-year-old’s game could blend well with the Sixers’ backcourt, Edgecombe had to overcome numerous obstacles off the court well before he heard his name called on draft night.
Shortly after he walked across the stage inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Wednesday, Edgecombe was asked about his mother’s emotional state as she watched her son’s NBA dreams come to fruition.
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“The long nights. … I lived off a generator for seven years. I didn’t have electricity. I lived off a generator for seven years,” the former Baylor basketball star said about some of the memories that stuck with him from childhood.
VJ Edgecombe celebrates with his family after being drafted third overall by the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2025 NBA Draft June 25, 2025, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. (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 viewed as the consensus top prospect entering this year’s draft, the Sixers’ pick at No. 3 wasn’t quite as clear.
Edgecombe admitted he wasn’t entirely confident he would hear his name called once the Sixers were on the clock.
VJ Edgecombe reacts on stage after being selected as the third pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center June 25, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
“No, I had no clue what was going on,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m just living in the moment until they tell me that I’m going there’ when I was at the table, like 15 seconds before they drafted me, before the commissioner called my name. They didn’t tell me nothing. It was still up in the air about what was going on.”
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Edgecombe averaged 15 points, 3.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game last season at Baylor.
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