Paul George will make his season debut Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
His return is not a surprise, as the 76ers forward looked great during post-practice drills Sunday. The 6-foot-8, 220-pounder even wore a blue practice jersey, which is usually reserved for starters, when the media was permitted in the gym.
He also had the blue jersey on during Monday morning’s shootaround. George previously wore the gray jersey, which denotes a player is in the second unit or out of the rotation, despite being a full participant in practice since Oct. 19.
On Monday, he was in the starting lineup alongside Dominick Barlow, Andre Drummond, VJ Edgecombe, and Tyrese Maxey.
George’s return was delayed because doctors wanted to see substantial strength in his left quadriceps before clearing him to play. As a result, George missed all four exhibition games and the first 12 regular-season games following arthroscopic left knee surgery on July 11.
Monday’s contest against his former team will be George’s first game since March 3 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 35-year-old played in only 41 games last season — his first as a Sixer — while hampered by various injuries. George was ruled out for the remainder of that season on March 17, the day he received injections in the left adductor muscle in his groin and left knee.
Sixers forward Paul George never leaves the arena until he makes all three-pointers. If he misses one, he starts over from the beginning. pic.twitter.com/3VAynS7kBr
He was expected to return in time for training camp. However, the nine-time All-Star’s knee surgery caused him to miss additional time.
His return comes at a good time for the Sixers, who are without Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee ligament), Joel Embiid (right knee soreness), and Adem Bona (sprained right ankle).
The hope is that George can improve upon last season’s performance.
He struggled to create separation and averaged just 16.2 points, the fourth-lowest average of his 15-year NBA career. George also finished with a three-point percentage of .358, the third-lowest of his career.
As VJ Edgecombe prepared to leave the 76ers’ locker room Sunday, following the team’s second set of back-to-back games in less than a week, veteran teammate Andre Drummond noticed the rookie looked “exhausted.”
So Drummond offered direct instructions for Edgecombe heading into the Sixers’ mandatory off day.
“Don’t get up until 6 p.m. tomorrow,” Drummond publicly reiterated in front of reporters a few minutes later. “6 p.m., VJ. So if you see this, keep your [butt] in bed.”
Perhaps no Sixer will benefit more than Edgecombe from this light stretch of the Sixers’ early schedule, when their only game in five days is Friday at the Detroit Pistons. After a torrid scoring start — including a historic 34-point outburst in the Sixers’ opener at the Boston Celtics — Edgecombe has shot 27.9% (17 of 61) from the floor and 25% (5 of 20) from three-point range and averaged 9.4 points during his past five games.
The mini slump is understandable for a rookie going through the demanding 82-game NBA schedule for the first time, and playing heavy minutes for a competitive Sixers team in record (7-4) and in number of “clutch” games played (nine, tied for the NBA lead entering Thursday). And there is no substitution for Edgecombe simply experiencing the grind.
“It’s not weighing on me,” Edgecombe said of his recent struggles. “Why I say it’s not is because it’s an 82-game season. Nobody’s going to remember these games early. I mean, I’m a rookie, man. I’ve got to give myself some grace. Obviously, I set a pretty high standard when I came and had a good debut scoring the ball.
“But at the end of the day, I just want to win. That’s the main thing for me. I just want to win.”
Coach Nick Nurse said that Edgecombe’s “tremendous engine” — the 20-year-old guard can “work really long days, and then do it again the next day,” the coach added — and mental fearlessness have been present since the Sixers drafted him this summer.
Sixers Vj Edgecombe has shot 27.9% from the floor and 25% from three-point range and averaged 9.4 points during his past five games.
That motor has already been put to use. Entering Thursday, Edgecombe ranked second in the NBA in minutes played (37.3 per game), only behind teammate Tyrese Maxey (40.5 per game). And after playing 35 total games his one college season at Baylor — “and 12 of them don’t really count,” Nurse quipped — Edgecombe logged 11 NBA games in less than three weeks. That included three back-to-backs, which Edgecombe acknowledged was “tough for me personally.”
“I don’t know if I can prepare myself for that,” Edgecombe said.
And it is not just the avalanche of games, but everything in between. Last week, the Sixers completed their first multigame road trip to Brooklyn, Chicago, and Cleveland. That typically means leaving one city immediately after a game, landing in the next city in the middle of the night, then needing to be ready to jump into practice or game preparation a few hours later.
Maxey said Tuesday that, in Year 6, he has just begun to figure out a maintenance routine that works for him. Justin Edwards, who was a rookie last season, learned preventive treatment such as sitting in a cold tub, “flush” massages, and red light therapy are crucial.
So far, Edgecombe spends nights without a game sitting on his couch in recovery boots that alleviate leg soreness. On game days, he takes a nap and speaks to his family. His goal is to keep his mind peaceful, following a mantra from high school coach John Buck that “you can’t be grateful and stressed at the same time.”
Edgecombe had already earned the trust of teammates and coaches with his work ethic and temperament. Nurse praised that Edgecombe was “everywhere” the team asked during the offseason, even canceling a visit home to the Bahamas.
That is why Nurse was not hesitant about immediately inserting Edgecome into the starting lineup. Or keeping him with the closing group, even when he struggled with his shot or turnovers earlier in the game. Edgecombe is already one of the Sixers’ better perimeter defenders. He also always has the potential to flash his insane athleticism as a driver or finisher. And he has already shown a knack for knocking down clutch shots, while averaging 15.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists so far this season.
“He’s got great composure. He’s calm. He doesn’t make too many mistakes,” Nurse said. “I super believe in him. … He needs to be out there and learn this stuff, and he’s produced.”
Like during the Sixers’ win over Celtics Tuesday night. Edgecombe missed eight of his first nine shots, including an air-balled three-pointer to begin the third quarter that prompted him to mouth “Oh my God” in surprise (or self-deprecation).
Sixers guards VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey occupy the NBA’s top two spots in minutes played per game.
But with about five minutes remaining, Edgecombe elevated to block All-Star Jaylen Brown’s dunk attempt, then pushed the ball ahead to Edwards for a three-pointer. Then with 2 minutes, 20 seconds to play, Edgecombe let an open three-pointer fly — and watched it bounce high off the rim and through the net to give the Sixers a four-point lead. Perhaps that was a reward for Edgecombe’s summer work to get more arc on his shot, and “give it a chance to get in the rim,” he said.
“It’s been a rough couple days, but I won’t stop shooting the ball,” Edgecombe said. “I will continue shooting the ball if I’m wide-open, if it’s the right shot.”
That is one of several on-court lessons for Edgecombe during these first 11 games. Another is that he cannot expect to outjump competitors for a rebound, because “they’re 7-foot and they’re gonna get there quicker than me.” Nurse added that Edgecombe must get downhill more aggressively while playing alongside Joel Embiid, in order to draw the defender away from the former MVP and open opportunities for Edgecombe to pass to a rolling or popping Embiid. Even the speedy Edgecombe notices the increased pace at the NBA level, and that he needs to sharpen his defensive positioning.
And though Edgecombe feels empowered by coaches and teammates to be himself on the court, Nurse acknowledged Thursday that the staff can more deliberately put Edgecombe in situations with the ball in his hands.
“Come hell or high water, this is your play,” Nurse said. “Go make something happen.”
After Tuesday’s sputters, Edgecombe believes he is “due for a game to get back on track.” Nurse added that Edgecombe’s past two days have been filled with “constant film work,” which is “still [a] pretty heavy load mentally, no matter if he’s on the court or not.”
But that approach does allow Edgecombe to take Drummond’s advice. On Monday, Edgecombe said he woke up after noon, then was back asleep by 5 p.m. So it is fair to assume he will aim to maximize this lighter early-season stretch, with one game in five days.
“When I get home, in my bed,” Edgecombe said, “that’s the best thing.”
Nick Nurse’s summer mood has long been dictated by how the just-completed season unfolded. So naturally, the 76ers’ coach spent much of this past offseason in a state of, in his words, “[ticked]-off-edness.”
The Sixers’ woeful, injury-plagued 24-58 season sent Nurse and his team home much sooner than they ever would have anticipated months earlier, when they had championship aspirations. The irritation lingered.
And lingered.
“It kind of fatigues you mentally and you’re just kind of constantly thinking about it,” the 58-year-old Nurse recently told The Inquirer. “And then, at some point, you’re like, ‘OK, tomorrow I’m getting up at 5:30, and we’re going to start going to work. We’ve got to make a move here.’
“And then that’s kind of what the rest of the summer becomes.”
That methodical approach has yielded a surprising 4-0 start to the Sixers’ 2025-26 season, even with Paul George and Jared McCain sidelined with injuries and Joel Embiid limited while working his way back from an ongoing knee issue. They rallied from a 19-point deficit to top the Washington Wizards in overtime Tuesday night, already their third double-digit comeback victory of the season.
Last season, it took the Sixers until Nov. 30 to record their fourth win. And though it is far too early to make sweeping declarations of a guaranteed turnaround, the Sixers have flashed an on-court identity — and palpable juice — that make good on Nurse’s public vow that “I want you to walk away from the game saying, ‘Jesus, they played their [butts] off tonight.’ That’s it.”
“You could feel his frustration, feel his pain,” said Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, one of Nurse’s close friends. “And, generally, when we’ve all been through a season or a situation like that, there’s an incredible focus on where we need to start going into it the following year. …
“You [could] sense the confidence in their ability to do that when I talked to him this summer.”
Sixers coach Nick Nurse determined that his team needed to play faster this year.
For Nurse, that summer evaluation always begins with a self-debrief, which he acknowledges is not unlike how his brain operates daily. He is constantly thinking about the puzzle of fusing his coaching philosophy — “what you think is the absolute best way of doing anything, regardless” — with roster strengths and weaknesses.
Tactically, Nurse concluded that the Sixers must play a faster-paced, free-flowing offense that could succeed even when Embiid — the perennial All-Star and 2022-23 MVP who has been the franchise’s centerpiece for much of the past decade — inevitably missed time. That emphasis was first raised to dynamic point guard Tyrese Maxey (who totaled another 39 points and 10 assists Tuesday in Washington) during his exit interview with Nurse, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, and general manager Elton Brand. It became even more imperative when the Sixers drafted VJ Edgecombe, a hyper-athletic guard.
But pace does not only mean how quickly the ball travels up and down the floor. Nurse said he, simply, “just wanted more passing. I just wanted the ball to touch more hands.”
The coaching staff began to implement those concepts — and individual skill development plans aligned with them — with younger players during summer league and workouts in Los Angeles, where assistant Rico Hines stages renowned pickup games. When everybody reconvened in Philly after Labor Day for informal team sessions, Nurse harped on the strength and conditioning required to attack the basket and play relentlessly on both ends of the floor. They scrimmaged without calling fouls, a style veteran center Andre Drummond called “prison ball.”
“All those things that kind of enable you to play with some toughness [and] physicality,” Nurse said, “push through when you think you’re tired, that you’re not.”
Returning players such as Adem Bona and Quentin Grimes described Nurse as more “direct” and “intense” while teaching schemes and principles during training camp practices. Kelly Oubre Jr. added that “Nurse has been putting us through the wringer.”
Yet newcomer Dominick Barlow said Nurse’s style and personality falls between his previous two NBA coaches, San Antonio Spurs legend Gregg Popovich and the Atlanta Hawks’ Quin Snyder. Jabari Walker, who also is in his first season in Philly, said he recently swung by Nurse’s office to thank him for giving him the confidence to shoot three-pointers.
“He stopped practice a couple times, saying, ‘That’s the one I want you to shoot,’” Walker said. “I think that’s just so helpful for players, because we overthink the game and we’re playing with such great guys [that] we don’t know when we should shoot sometimes.
“Having a coach that really believes in you allows you to just take that step back and trust your work. [You] even want to play harder for a leader like that, just because he instills so much in you.”
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse showed early confidence in rookie VJ Edgecombe and it appears to be paying off.
Nurse also can tap back into past experiences on his wide-ranging coaching journey of when a team responded to a disappointing season with a significant bounce-back.
After five years coaching in the British Basketball League, Nurse went 22-28 his first season with the D-League’s Iowa Energy, from 2007-08, while adjusting to a “totally different” playing style and roster “merry-go-round [that] was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” He flipped that record to 28-22 the following season, won the 2011 league championship, and then was hired to coach the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the D-League affiliate of the Houston Rockets, then run by Morey. Nurse went 24-26 that first season, before winning the title the next year.
Nurse, though, has been candid about what faces the Sixers this season. They must “earn their way back” into the playoffs, he said on media day. “We’re digging ourselves out of a pretty big hole,” he reiterated following recent practices. When asked before Saturday’s home opener against Charlotte how much pressure he felt entering this season, Nurse said, “Not more than any other time.”
“I’m going into every game trying to win,” Nurse said, “and that’s been going on for 35 years. … That’s really all I think about.”
Even before this impressive start, Nurse could pull optimism from a practice day just before the season opener. When he walked into the Sixers’ facility at 7:30 a.m., the coach said, two players already were watching film in the chairs that line the practice courts. Another was moving through an individual workout.
“It’s not easy to get all that stuff: the work ethic, the togetherness,” Nurse said. “I keep saying I’m happy with it. Am I surprised? A little bit, because it’s not that easy.”
Perhaps those Sixers were mirroring their coach and the way his offseason mood propelled him into 2025-26.
“You go through these [times] as a coach, for sure,” he said. “And you just do all those things I said. You debrief. You regroup. You brush the dust off and get back to work.
“And you let that [ticked]-off-edness fuel you a little bit.”
Fortunate and exciting are the best ways to describe the Sixers. They know it. So do their first three opponents.
Yet that shouldn’t take away from the unexpected excitement surrounding the team.
After beating the Magic on Monday night, the Sixers are 3-0. It’s their best start since opening 5-0 during the 2019-20 season.
The Sixers are fortunate because they’ve had a favorable schedule to start the season, facing the Magic (1-3), Charlotte Hornets (2-1), and Boston Celtics (1-3). And they’ll travel to the 1-2 Washington Wizards on Tuesday to complete their first back-to-back of the season.
Yet, the undermanned squad is fun to watch thanks to having one of the league’s best young backcourts in Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe.
According to ESPN, the duo’s combined 186 points are the most by any team’s starting backcourt through the first three games of a season since starters were first tracked during the 1970-71 season.
“That’s a long time ago,” Maxey said with a chuckle when asked his thoughts. “Nineteen-seventy that was like … a long time ago. All I have to say is that was a long time ago.
“But I mean, listen, we are just trying to go out there and be aggressive to help us win. As long as we are doing that, then we are doing a good job. VJ is doing great.”
Several gritty, athletic, defensive-minded role players surround the duo.
As a result, this team has shown more heart than all of last season when they finished with a disheartening 24-58 record. And things should only get better once the team gets healthy.
Joel Embiid missed Monday’s game due to left knee injury management. Dominick Barlow was also sidelined while having a procedure for a left elbow laceration. Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Jared McCain (right thumb surgery recovery), and Trendon Watford (left hamstring injury management) have yet to play this season.
Sixers guard Eric Gordon scored eight points off the bench on Monday night.
On Monday, Jabari Walker (four points, five rebounds, one block) got his first start of the season. Eric Gordon (eight points, 2-for-3 on three-pointers) and Hunter Sallis made their season debuts.
“Last year, I think lineups changed a lot. Guys in and out,” Kelly Oubre Jr. said of the team’s ability to bring it together so quickly. “But this year, I think Tyrese has been hitting it on the head. It’s like no matter who’s out there, we have this constant that we won’t waiver from. That goes into our culture and the things that we do on a daily basis.
“It’s still early. But at the end of the day, man, if we can have the next man step up, or anybody come in there and be an impact to winning, I think that we’ll be better off than we were last year.”
But like they’ve done in their first two games, the Sixers came up with big fourth-quarter plays to pull out the victory.
On this night, Maxey scored 13 of his season-high 43 points in the final quarter to give the Sixers breathing room. He also finished with a game-high eight assists and four rebounds. The 2023 All-Star is averaging 37 points.
He received MVP chants during the game.
”I’m just trying to close games out,” said Maxey, who is in his sixth season. “Joel has been on me recently about that, probably since my fourth year, about how I can help close games out and have the ball in my hand and make decisions whether I’m shooting or whether I’m passing.”
Meanwhile, Edgecombe finished with 26 points, seven assists, four rebounds, one block, and a steal. He’s averaging 25 points. And the Sixers’ backcourt is a problem for teams to defend.
The team will be tough to beat if Oubre can duplicate Monday’s performance, finishing with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, along with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Magic didn’t help their case by taking too many poor shots and only playing hard in spurts. That’s where the Sixers were fortunate in this game.
But this team is exciting and has a refuse-to-lose attitude that could benefit them once the schedule toughens.
Sixers center Adem Bona shown blocking one of his three total blocked shots on Monday night against the Magic.
Bona’s impact, excessive fouling
Bona got the start at center for Embiid. The 6-foot-8, 235-pounder was flying around on the defensive end. That enabled him to sandwich two highlight blocks around one by Oubre on consecutive defensive possessions.
However, as Bona tends to do, he got caught for reaching and jumping into players he’s defending. Bona picked up his first foul with 8 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first quarter. Then the second-year player picked up his second foul 30 seconds later and was immediately subbed out by Andre Drummond.
“Like we all know that, like even from last year, try to avoid the early fouls to avoid going to the bench, you know?” Bona said. “Sometimes it happens. Sometimes, I just got to let some stuff go. It’s just not part of my mentality. My mentality is like no one scores on me, no one scores on the team while I’m on the floor.
“Sometimes I got to know when to switch it on, switch it off. … For me, I think that’s like the next step to know when to attack everybody and when to slow down.”
Bona returned to the game early in the second quarter.
The former UCLA standout was back to his aggressive self in the third quarter. He scored on two acrobatic alley-oop dunks, grabbed three rebounds, and blocked Desmond Bane’s layup before being subbed out with 5:50 left in the third.
“That’s huge, not just for me, but the whole team,” Bona said of highlight plays. “Not just for the whole team, but for the fans. It brings excitement. It brings juice.
“When you get the fans going, the fans are behind you and bring excitement to the team. We want to play harder. We want to play faster. So that’s really big, and that’s what I do, just bring that for the team and the fans.”
He finished with seven points and four rebounds to go with his three blocks.
Bona is a considerable asset for the Sixers. He brings unmatched energy, excitement, and rim protection. He needs to cut down on committing early fouls.
Quentin Grimes continues to thrive as a scoring threat off the bench for the Sixers.
Grimes is thriving in a reserve role
After being acquired in a trade from the Dallas Mavericks in February, Grimes proved that he’s capable of starting for the Sixers.
The 6-5, 207-pounder with elite three-point shooting and solid defense would be a great compliment to Maxey in the backcourt. He would also stretch the floor to create space for Embiid and George.
But coming off the bench has enabled him to play more as a playmaker and less as a stander in the corner, waiting for catch-and-shoot opportunities.
It’s also better for him and the team in that role. There’s less competition if he’s playing for the second unit. And his impact has been felt in each of the last two games.
Grimes finished with 14 points on Monday while making 3-of-4 three-pointers, to go with five rebounds and three assists before fouling out. He made an impact shortly after checking into the game with 6:53 left in the first quarter.
He also buried three foul shots to give the Sixers an 118-113 lead with 4:52 remaining.
This comes after Grimes finished with 24 points in Saturday’s 125-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. In that win, Grimes gave the Sixers the lead for good on a three-pointer with 15 seconds remaining.
“I know I’m going to get starters minutes and everything [despite coming off the bench],” Grimes said. “I’m going to do my thing. I just get the opportunity to go out there and play my game … go out there and help the team win.
“We got a lot of good guys on the team, a lot of versatility. So it’s all going to play itself out. It’s going to work out for sure.”
Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points, including eight straight during a crucial fourth-quarter stretch, and rookie VJ Edgecombe added 26 points as the 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 136-124 without Joel Embiid to improve to 3-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Embiid, the 2023 MVP and two-time scoring champ, was sidelined to rest his surgically repaired left knee. After playing in just 19 games last season, Embiid played the first two games with a restriction of 20 minutes.
The Sixers did just fine without him. Maxey followed a three-pointer with a driving basket with just over a minute left that gave the 76ers a comfortable 12-point advantage. Maxey is averaging 37 points through three games. Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft, continues to impress and has 75 points through three games. Kelly Oubre Jr. contributed 25 points.
Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe scored 26 points against the Orlando Magic on Monday night.
Paolo Banchero had 32 points to pace the Magic, who opened a five-game, 10-day trip with their third consecutive loss. Desmond Bane chipped in with 24 points and Franz Wagner added 22.
The Sixers’ Andre Drummond finished with six rebounds, becoming the 32nd player in NBA history to record at least 11,000 rebounds.
Anthony Black drained a three-quarter-court shot at the third-quarter buzzer to pull the Magic within 101-94.
Up next
The Sixers will travel to face the Washington Wizards on the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday (7 p.m., NBCSP). Orlando will continue its road trip with a matchup at the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
Jared McCain, who is recovering from right thumb surgery, has been out of his split for two days. But the 76ers guard put on a solid shoot display following Monday’s shootaround, and looked like someone who could make a solid impact upon his return.
“That’s the progress,” coach Nick Nurse said before Monday night’s game against the Orlando Magic at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “He’s going to have to go through a series of days of contact and all that stuff, too.”
The second-year player was cleared to switch from his initial split to a smaller one and partake in drills after being reevaluated a couple of days ago. As was the case prior to injury, he shot the ball at a high percentage during the workout.
He began his session by shooting three-pointers with VJ Edgecombe and Eric Gordon. After Edgecombe and Gordon cleared the court, McCain participated in solo drills, attempting more threes and concluding with foul shots.
“Inserting him in with the VJ, Tyrese [Maxey] and [Quentin Grimes guard] group is the plan,” Nurse said of how he wants to use McCain. “That was sort of the plan going into the season. Again, I think they all can do a variety of things, and give us a chance to have some more depth. Gives us a chance to, again, play some shorter stints so the energy can stay high and all those things.
“We need him back. We look forward to having him back.”
McCain suffered the injury while working out on Sept. 25, the day before the unofficial start of his second season. He underwent surgery on Sept. 30 at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
McCain had previously been cleared as a full training-camp participant after missing the final 4½ months of last season with a torn meniscus in his left knee. He suffered that injury on Dec. 13 during a home loss to the Indiana Pacers.
McCain, now 21, was a revelation for the Sixers last season and would have been a major contributor for a struggling team if he had remained healthy.
Despite playing in just 23 games, he finished tied for seventh in the NBA’s rookie of the year voting. McCain was awarded a third-place vote from the media panel of 100 voters. Before the injury, he was the favorite to win the award.
McCain averaged 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. He also shot 46% from the field — including 38.3% from three. The California native joined Hall of Famer Allen Iverson as the only Sixers rookies to average at least 15 points and two made three-pointers.
He made three or more three-pointers in eight consecutive games from Nov. 8-22 to set an NBA rookie record.
Sixers guard Jared McCain gets up shots with VJ Edgecombe and Eric Gordon after Monday’s shootaround: pic.twitter.com/J9sst9RDVo
McCain was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month for games played in October and November last season.
Joel Embiid sidelined
It wasn’t surprising that Joel Embiid missed Monday’s game.
The 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star won’t play on both nights of back-to-backs, and the Sixers will face the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on Tuesday.
Embiid playing “is always going to be our best version of our basketball team,” Nurse said. “He’s still obviously working his way back into being the guy that can play. I don’t know if we’re ever going to get to 48 minutes, but working his way up the ladder a little bit.
“I think we know the situation like we’re in with back-to-backs that he’d be missing one of the two games, and we got to go play, knowing that is probably better than finding out another way.”
Barlow’s procedure
Nurse said Dominick Barlow was undergoing a procedure on Monday to address a right elbow laceration while his teammates were facing the Magic. The power forward will also sit out Tuesday’s contest.
Barlow averaged 7.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists as the starting power forward in the first two games.
“It was kind of a nice fit,” Nurse said of Barlow being in the starting lineup. “He was guarding tough. He was rebounding tough. He was offensive rebounding really well. We just got to move on. And again, it affects your depth.”
Gilbert Rolle Jr. and his youth basketball team gathered in Freeport, the Bahamas, on Wednesday, the night before traveling to the nearby Abaco Islands for a tournament.
They were all locked in on a front-room television showing the 76ers’ season opener at the Boston Celtics, where one of their own was making his much-anticipated NBA debut.
It felt like a full-circle moment for Rolle, because the last time he traveled to this tournament, a seventh-grade VJ Edgecombe was with him. Now, there were outbursts of cheers whenever Edgecombe scored for the Sixers, making it feel like “every shot was a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … moment,” Rolle said.
Edgecombe’s historic NBA debut — his 34 points were the most in a Sixers rookie’s first game in franchise history, and the most scored in any NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain’s 43 with the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959 — dazzled those who follow the sport.
But for those with roots on the tiny island of Bimini, who watched Edgecombe grow into this player and man, the pride cannot be overstated.
“It was like, ‘Wow, it was just so inspiring,’” said Rolle, a coach and principal at Gateway Christian Academy. “Because this isn’t somebody we just know. This is somebody who sat in our schools, that we watched him play in the park, walked through the community. We know, know, know, know him. …
“It was so personal, and it was amazing.”
When asked how Edgecombe was ready to make such an instant impact at basketball’s highest level, Rolle and others reached by The Inquirer by phone pointed to the 20-year-old’s maturity and confidence. Those qualities were shaped by Edgecombe’s childhood circumstances, when his family spent time living with a generator for power in their home. And on the basketball court, he played against older kids.
In every way, Rolle said, Edgecombe was “always a notch above his age.”
Sixers rookie VJ Edgecombe passes against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Leano Rolle saw this in Edgecombe from the beginning. They are such close friends that they consider themselves cousins or brothers. As kids, they started playing basketball together barefoot on a neighborhood dirt lot, with a makeshift hoop made of a crate and two-by-fours.
When Edgecombe went through his pre-draft process earlier this year, Leano Rolle was still by his side. The night before Edgecombe was selected third overall by the Sixers, tears of disbelief and joy fell from the corners of Leano Rolle’s eyes as he stared at the ceiling while lying in a New York City bed.
“I texted [Edgecombe] and told him how proud of him I was,” Leano Rolle said. “It was so amazing because, where we’re from, you wouldn’t expect nothing to happen like that.”
But the younger Rolle is chasing his own basketball dreams at Southwest Mississippi Community College, and Wednesday’s practice overlapped with the start of the Sixers-Celtics game.
When a team manager alerted Rolle that Edgecombe had 14 first-quarter points, he was in shock. He kept checking his phone for box scores and Instagram dunk highlights as he moved from practice to a mandatory pep rally, convinced that Edgecombe was about to get 50 points.
When Rolle finally returned to his room, Edgecombe called him and their other best friend for a postgame chat.
“Just talking and laughing and telling him how he did,” Rolle said. “Letting him know he went out there and did well, and did what he was supposed to do.”
Also watching that night was LJ Rose, the general manager of the Bahamian national team. He did not realize that Edgecombe took 25 shots against the Celtics, because “he was just flowing.”
Rose, who is also the general manager of the University of Miami’s men’s basketball team, remembers first learning about Edgecombe from a local media member named John Nutt. Nutt persuaded Buddy Hield, the fellow NBA Bahamian and former Sixer, to invite a young Edgecombe to his basketball camp.
“He held his own,” Rose said of Edgecombe. “And ever since then, he’s kind of been on the radar.”
Sixers center Joel Embiid fires a pass to VJ Edgecombe on Saturday.
That buzz only grew when Edgecombe joined the senior national team for an Olympic qualifying tournament last summer. He played alongside NBA players Hield, current Sixer Eric Gordon, and Deandre Ayton, the first time Edgecombe had been surrounded by teammates with more credentials and experience.
Still, Edgecombe “showed up Day 1 and he asserted himself,” Rose said, a testament to Edgecombe’s “everyday” work ethic and temperament. Rose went back to the Houston Rockets, where he was an international scout at the time, and told general manager Rafael Stone, “Hey, we have one.”
“He did not get rattled when he got overseas,” Rose said. “And it was a new environment. Some adversity was coming, but he just kind of kept on plugging away. And I think that just goes back to, it’s the everyday. His consistent grind and just coming from where he’s come from.”
Even during this dramatic life transition to the NBA, Edgecombe has remained connected to those Bimini roots.
Leano Rolle is planning to visit Edgecombe in Philly for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Gilbert Rolle texts Edgecombe at least once per week and said any impromptu phone call would be answered with a, “Hey, what’s up?”
When asked late Saturday — after totaling 15 points, eight assists, and six rebounds in the Sixers’ comeback win over the Charlotte Hornets — about the support he has felt from back home in recent days, a grinning Edgecombe said, “Yeah … I’ve heard from a lot of people.”
Because Edgecombe is still the “humble spirit” that Gilbert Rolle watched cry “as if somebody died” after losing in that Abaco Islands tournament as a seventh grader. To Rolle, that visceral reaction cemented how seriously Edgecombe took the sport.
“He’s not only talented, but he worked for this and he wanted this,” Rolle said. “This was something that he put his mind to do. And every opportunity he had, he went and got up extra shots. Any opportunity he had to get better in his game.
“To see him crying from losing a game, to on TV playing and breaking records, I’m like, ‘He deserves this.’”
And now, Gilbert Rolle has direct evidence of Edgecombe’s hard work to pass along to his current crop of young players. That is one component of the Edgecombe chatter that spread throughout the Bahamas into the weekend, as those close to the rookie revel in his instant success.
And if Edgecombe continues this torrid start to his NBA career?
“The people back home are ready to name the island after him one day,” Leano Rolle said. “That’s VJ Island.”
Joel Embiid has played alongside All-Stars and future Hall of Famers as a 76er.
So the 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star has become a good talent evaluator during his decade-plus with the franchise. And he knows that rookie guard VJ Edgecombe has a chance to be a special player.
“Whether shots are going in or not, [he] always plays the right way, makes the right plays,” Embiid added. “I think tonight he had eight assists, so letting the game come to him. In Boston, he made shots; he attacked. I thought tonight, he was a little shy — not shy, but he wasn’t attacking enough. He’s just got to keep going.
“He’s got space. Attack. He’s way too athletic for someone to be in front of him. Then, once he jumps, you’ve got no chance.”
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe finished with 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting against the Hornets. He also had six rebounds and a team-high three steals to go with his eight assists.
Edgecombe finished with 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting. He also had six rebounds and a team-high three steals to go with his eight assists.
While impressive, his scoring was a drop-off from the 34 points scored Wednesday in a season-opening 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The performance placed him in the same rarified air as Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain and future Hall of Famer LeBron James.
It was the third-highest scoring debut in NBA history behind Chamberlain’s 43 points on Oct. 24, 1959, and Frank Selvy’s 35 on Nov. 30, 1954. Edgecombe’s 14 first-quarter points set a record for the most in the opening period of an NBA debut, surpassing James’ 12 points on Oct. 29, 2003.
But to Edgecombe’s credit, Saturday’s decreased scoring output had a lot to do with not forcing anything while Embiid had the hot hand. The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder scored five of the Sixers’ first seven points and nine of the first 18. He finished with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 20 minutes, 7 seconds. Embiid played only the first 4:58 of the second half because he was on a minutes restriction.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe lays up the basketball for two of his 15 points against the Hornets.
“You’ve got to keep being aggressive, but also letting the game come to you,” Embiid said. “And that’s what he did tonight. Every night, I said it after the first game, every night — it might be Tyrese [Maxey]. It might be me. It might be him. It might be someone else, but you’ve still got to play the right way.
“Some nights, you’re not going to score. How else are you going to contribute? He’s doing it defensively and sharing the ball.”
Milestone for Nurse
Friday’s victory marked Nick Nurse’s 300th win as an NBA coach. In 556 regular-season games, the 58-year-old has a 300-256 record in eight seasons with the Sixers and Toronto Raptors.
Nurse went 227-163 with one NBA title during five seasons with the Raptors. He’s 73-93 since being hired by the Sixers on June 1, 2023.
Up next
The Sixers (2-0) will entertain the Orlando Magic (1-2) at 7 p.m. Monday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. After facing Orlando, the Sixers will play Tuesday night at the Washington Wizards.
Joel Embiid will miss the 76ers’ Monday night game against the Orlando Magic at Xfinity Mobile Arena due to left knee injury management.
Meanwhile, Sixers forward Dominick Barlow will also miss the Magic game and Tuesday’s contest at the Washington Wizards while undergoing a procedure on Monday to address a right elbow laceration. He will be re-evaluated later on this week.
Embiid played in the first two games of the season and the exhibition finale. Those matchups were Embiid’s first games since facing the Brooklyn Nets in a 105-103 regular-season home loss on Feb. 22.
Meanwhile, Barlow suffered the laceration in the first half of Saturday’s 125-121 home-opening victory over the Charlotte Hornets and didn’t return after intermission.
Sixers forward Dominick Barlow will miss the next two games while undergoing to procedure after suffering a right elbow laceration.
Paul George (left knee surgery recovery), Trendon Watford (left hamstring tightness), and Jared McCain (right thumb surgery) will remain sidelined.
Embiid’s game of rest comes after he finished with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including making 3 of 6 three-pointers, to go with two rebounds, four assists, and two steals against the Hornets. He logged just 20 minutes, 7 seconds while on a minute restriction.
Andre Drummond secured the rebound off Tyrese Maxey’s missed free throw, then fought through contact to convert underneath the basket. The big man pounded his chest with both hands near the 76ers’ bench, a fire lit under himself and his team in the midst of another double-digit rally.
“That’s what I’ve been paid for my entire career,” Drummond said. “It doesn’t take much for me to get to that point where I want to get every rebound.”
Drummond grabbed 13 boards in 15 consecutive minutes to end the game — and added seven points, two assists, and two steals — in the Sixers’ 125-121 comeback victory over the Charlotte Hornets in Saturday night’s home opener. The vintage performance rescued the Sixers on a night when former MVP Joel Embiid remained on a strict minutes restriction, backup Adem Bona struggled, and forward Dominick Barlow exited the game with an injury.
And though Drummond entered this season mostly viewed by outsiders as a rotation afterthought — at least partially due to a turf toe injury that sapped much of a disappointing 2024-25 season — the effort signaled that the 32-year-old may still be a viable option while Embiid works his way back.
“I felt normal. I felt like myself,” Drummond said at his locker after the game. “I was able to move the way I wanted to move. Reaction time was there, just the spring in my jumps and how fast I was moving. Felt good to feel like myself again.”
Embiid (20 points, four assists, two steals) was significantly more effective against the Hornets than in Wednesday’s opener at the Boston Celtics — but burned through 15 of his 20 allotted minutes in the first half. That left him with only one third-quarter stint before he emerged during the final period wearing a hoodie and an ice pack on his surgically repaired left knee.
Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond embrace after the Sixers beat the Hornets, 125-121, on Saturday.
Against the Celtics, coach Nick Nurse chose a small-ball lineup featuring Barlow and Jabari Walker to finish off their first win. But that was not an option Saturday, when Barlow did not return after halftime because of an elbow laceration. Bona, meanwhile, played 12 minutes but recorded only one point with no rebounds.
So Nurse turned to Drummond, who played less than three minutes in Boston, with 3 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter and the Sixers trailing by eight points. He had four rebounds before the end of that frame.
Early in the fourth, Drummond swiped the ball from Charlotte rookie Kon Knueppel and quickly dished the pass ahead to Kelly Oubre Jr. for a dunk, prompting teammate VJ Edgecombe to chest-bump Drummond heading into a timeout. Drummond later found Oubre again for a three-pointer that cut the Hornets’ lead to 112-105 with 5:23 to play, then sank a difficult turnaround hook shot about a minute later. He pulled down nine more rebounds during the period, including six on the offensive glass.
And when Drummond flew in to clean up Maxey’s driving miss with a two-handed, rim-rocking slam — which gave the Sixers a 117-116 lead with 2:13 remaining — the Xfinity Mobile Arena crowd exploded.
“You’re wondering why you didn’t use him earlier, to be honest,” Nurse said of Drummond. “ … I just thought it was time to try to find some spark of energy, and he certainly provided it. Because, all of a sudden, the rebounding got a lot easier and [got us] some offensive extra possessions.”
It was reminiscent of the prime version of Drummond, who was a two-time All-Star and four-time league rebounding leader. He also was once the backup center Embiid called the best he has ever had, before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the 2022 package in the Ben Simmons-James Harden blockbuster.
Rejoining the Sixers during 2024 free agency was a celebrated complementary move. But, like so many aspects of the Sixers’ woeful 2024-25 season, Drummond’s role never materialized. He missed 42 games, mostly with that nagging toe injury, and largely did not look like the same player whenever he was on the floor.
Drummond said on media day that he felt like he let down himself, his team, and the city — and “took that personal.” During his offseason reflection, he concluded that he spent too much time last season overthinking and “worried about manipulating the game in a way that I wanted it to work for me.” He shifted his focus to rediscovering his joy while playing the sport.
“I’m in a place now where I’m just happier,” Drummond said following the Sixers’ Oct. 10 preseason game against the Orlando Magic. “I’m excited to be here. I told my team — I told the coaching staff, too — whatever it is they need from me to help this team win, I’m more than willing to do it. And I think they’re seeing that. I’ll continue to put my best foot forward.”
Another offseason goal: getting into better physical shape to be ready to play stretches like Friday’s. He cut back on cheat meals — the Asian fusion restaurant Nobu is his guilty pleasure — and spent more time running. To help heal his injury, he adopted “toe yoga.” During his pregame routine, he rolls out an acupuncture mat at his locker and stands on the tiny spikes to relieve any stiffness in his feet.
“That’s what helped me speed the [recovery] process up,” Drummond said.
Drummond has learned to adopt the “stay ready” mindset in recent seasons, as his playing time began fluctuating.
From the bench, he watches the game flow and nuances recognizable to his veteran eye, such as defensive communication lapses or moments to set (or not set) screens. He is not shy about passing advice on to Bona, if the second-year big man receives the initial reserve minutes. And regularly sitting next to Drummond is second-year wing Justin Edwards, who is in a similar fringe rotation spot and now a beneficiary of the big man’s encouragement.
Sixers forward Justin Edwards had nine points in 12 minutes against the Hornets on Saturday.
“Bro, don’t lose yourself in this,” Drummond tells Edwards, who finished Saturday with nine points in 12 key second-half minutes. “It’s a game of runs. It’s a game that changes often.”
Saturday, it did. Drummond emphasized that he was not the only player who fueled the Sixers’ second consecutive comeback win. Quentin Grimes hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 15 seconds left, and finished with 24 points off the bench. Maxey (28 points, nine assists) and Edgecombe (15 points, eight assists) continue to form a dynamic guard tandem. Oubre (19 points on 7-of-10 shooting) was a team-high plus-18.
But after the Hornets’ Tre Mann missed a potential game-tying three-pointer with 12.1 seconds to play, Drummond grabbed the game-sealing rebound.
It was — again — vintage Drummond.
“Wouldn’t have won that game without him,” Embiid said. “… That’s the Drummond that we wanted back two years ago.”
