Baylor Bears basketball star V. J. Edgecombe draws comparisons to Dwayne Wade, Grant Hill
Baylor Bears basketball star V.J. Edgecombe is in the running to be the No. 3 pick by the time the Philadelphia 76ers are on the clock later this month at the 2025 NBA draft.
ESPN draft expert Jay Bilas believes Edgecombe has the room to develop into one of the game’s great two-way players.
Just like Dwayne Wade during his undersized playing days at Marquette, and a former No. 3 pick whom Bilas coached at Duke, Grant Hill.
“I think the other player that you may consider (at the Sixers’ No. 3 pick) is V.J. Edgecombe from Baylor. He kind of reminds you a little bit of Dwyane Wade. I would be very surprised if he’s off the board by No. 4, but he could certainly be. Wade was a small kid Marquette,” Bilas told me on Sunday.
You look back at players and what they became and say, ‘Well, what was your thought of them when they were a freshman?’ I use Grant Hill when he was a player at Duke. If Grant Hill had been able to come after his freshman year, people said he couldn’t shoot. He’s athletic and talented, all that stuff, but by the time he’s a senior, and ultimately Rookie of the Year, that would not necessarily have been the report on him as a freshman.
“Especially back then when you know, he didn’t have guys coming out, high high school players, freshmen, I think people were a little more skeptical back then of the ability to make the transition as a freshman. Now it’s happened so many times. When I was when I was in college, guys were drafted as 22-year-olds and they were seen as rookies with a lot to learn. And now you hear about a 22-year-old spending time in college for a while, and they say, ‘Well, you know, that’s who he is,’ and I don’t think that’s true either.”
Edgecombe and Rutgers’ Ace Bailey are the two likeliest players to be taken with the Sixers’ No. 3 pick.
Cooper Flagg is locked into the Dallas Mavericks’ No. 1 overall pick, while Bilas believes the San Antonio Spurs will keep their pick and take Dylan Harper at No. 2.
CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone projects Edgecombe to go No. 4 to the Charlotte Hornets as a third perimeter threat next to LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.
