The Philadelphia 76ers can look at a couple of NBA rookie leaderboards and feel great about where their first-round pick ranks.
VJ Edgecombe has had a strong first season in Philadelphia, and the NBA recently shined some light on it, while revealing the league’s stat leaders through March 2026.
When it comes to total points and points per game, Edgecombe is third in the NBA.
The Sixers’ rookie trails the Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg and the Charlotte Hornets sharpshooter, Kon Knueppel.
via NBA Stats on X: The TOTAL POINTS and POINTS PER GAME leaders through Mar. 31 among NBA rookies.
Kon Knueppel: 1,410 points
Cooper Flagg: 1,298
VJ Edgecombe: 1,090
Jeremiah Fears: 989
Ace Bailey: 907
The Sixers Hit On VJ Edgecombe So Far
As a result of missing the NBA Play-In Tournament last year, the Sixers not only kept their protected lottery pick, but they also landed a top-three selection.
Cooper Flagg, as expected, went No. 1 out of Duke. Any team with the top selection was guaranteed to take Flagg. Although the Sixers had reported interest in Dylan Harper out of Rutgers, it wasn’t enough for them to trade up. Harper landed on the Spurs.
The Sixers were believed to have an eye on Ace Bailey and VJ Edgecombe. Ultimately, they stuck with the star freshman out of Baylor.
Edgecombe has 68 games played as a rookie. The young rising star is a full-time starter with 34.8 minutes of action on average.
The ex-Baylor Bear shot 43.6% from the field and hit on 36.0%, while shooting 5.7 threes per game. Edgecombe is putting up 16.0 points per game, which ranks third in the NBA for rookies.
Beyond his scoring, Edgecombe is producing 5.6 rebounds per game, along with 4.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game.
The NBA also announced that Edgecombe leads the NBA in steals for all rookies, along with steals per game.
via NBA Stats on X: The TOTAL STEALS and STEALS PER GAME leaders through Mar. 31 among NBA rookies.
VJ Edgecombe: 96
Jeremiah Fears: 85
Will Richard: 78
Cooper Flagg: 77
Derik Queen: 71
The Sixers are postseason-bound this year. They hope to get Edgecombe some much-needed early playoff experience.
After a dominant win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, the Sixers advanced to 42-34 on the season. For the time being, they got out in front of the Toronto Raptors to take on the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers and the Timberwolves will battle it out on Friday, April 3.