Rarely Used Forward Could Be the Answer to Sixers' Prayers

The Sixers have been sorely lacking depth at the wing all season.

Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. have been fine as starters when healthy, but the Sixers have almost nothing behind those two. They've been switching between three-guard lineups and occasionally shoehorning in power forwards such as Trendon Watford and Jabari Walker in those spots.

One silver lining of their deluge of recent injuries is that Justin Edwards is finally getting a consistent chance to show what he can do. And much like Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain last year, he's taking off running with it.

Saturday's 126-116 win over the Utah Jazz was Edwards' sixth straight start. Over his first five starts during that stretch, he averaged 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.4 threes and 2.4 steals in only 28.6 minutes per game. He also shot 55.9% overall and 42.9% from deep, both of which were clearly unsustainable.

Edwards came crashing back to earth against Utah, finishing with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting (including 1-of-5 from deep) in 25 minutes. Cam Payne and Trendon Watford started cooking off the bench, and head coach Nick Nurse largely decided to run with the hot hand(s) from there.

Although Saturday may have been some overdue regression for Edwards, he was fresh off scoring a career-high 32 points on Thursday, albeit against the not-even-pretending-to-care Sacramento Kings. But before you accuse him of stat-padding, he also had a well-rounded 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals in 29 minutes against the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons in his first start of this stretch.

George is set to return from his suspension on Wednesday, so Edwards could be headed back to the bench after Monday's likely beatdown at the hands of the OKC Thunder. The Sixers should keep him involved in the rotation after what he's showed lately, though.

What is Edwards' importance to the Sixers?

Stop us if you've heard this one before: To build successfully around three players on max contracts, teams need inexpensive depth. It doesn't get much more inexpensive than Edwards.

The Sixers signed Edwards to a three-year contract last summer worth up to $7.1 million. He's on a fully guaranteed salary both this season and in 2026-27, and the Sixers have a $2.6 million team option on him in 2027-28 as well.

Edwards' salary for next season ($2,411.090) is slightly less than what the minimum contract projects to be for anyone with two or more years of NBA experience (nearly $2,465,000). A different of $55,000 might not sound like a lot until you remember that the Sixers are currently on pace to finish less than $200,000 below the luxury tax this year. Every dollar counts.

If Edwards can be viable wing depth for the Sixers beyond George and Oubre—or perhaps in place of Oubre if he leaves this summer in free agency—that's one less hole for the Sixers to fill this offseason. But his up-and-down sophomore season didn't inspire much confidence in his ability to fill that role until recently.

Prior to this recent opportunity, Edwards had six double-figure-scoring games across his first 48 appearances of the season. He's had five in his past six games.

One needs to only harken back to what former Sixers guard Jared McCain told James Herbert of CBS Sports to wonder if a similar phenomenon is impacting Edwards.

"I have nothing bad to say about none of the teammates, none of the coaches, but it's just hard to find a rhythm playing with really great players and getting little short spurts," McCain told Herbert. "There were a few games, for sure, that I felt great. I feel like those were the ones where I got to play a little extended minutes, play through some mistakes."

Sixers teammates still believe in Edwards

While Sixers fans might have largely checked out on Edwards prior to this recent surge, his teammates still had his back.

After Edwards and VJ Edgecombe both set new scoring career highs against Sacramento, Edgecombe told reporters that he was "more excited for him than I am for me, just because I know the ups and downs he's been going through this season."

Edwards himself acknowledged how much he appreciated that support.

"It means a lot, honestly," Edwards told reporters in mid-March after he scored 14 points in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. "It's been an up-and-down year for me. So, you know, having those guys in the back of my head telling me to just continue to be aggressive and continue to have fun means a lot."

Edwards won't have this same kind of leash when (if?) the Sixers get back to full strength. He still needs to prove that he can make a positive impact in a similar role to justify his place in the rotation.

Even if his shooting percentages regress, Edwards can still help the Sixers by playing solid defense, keeping the ball moving and knocking down open shots when the opportunity presents itself. If he uses these final few weeks of the regular season to prove his ability to do that, it could be a promising building block heading into a pivotal offseason for him.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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