The Sixers Are the Biggest Dark Horse in the East Thanks to VJ Edgecombe

When the Sixers signed Paul George to a four-year max contract during the 2024 offseason, they thought he was the final piece to their championship puzzle. Little did they know, they needed to wait one more year for that.

After a disappointing, injury-ravaged 2024-25 campaign, the Sixers lucked out during the 2025 draft lottery. They entered the night with the fifth-best odds for the No. 1 overall pick—and a 36 percent chance of conveying their first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder—but the ping-pong balls smiled upon them and vaulted them up to No. 3.

The Sixers used that pick on Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe. Although No. 4 overall pick Kon Knueppel is also shining for the Charlotte Hornets, it's safe to say the Sixers should have no regrets about their decision.

In Saturday's 130-119 road win over the New York Knicks, Edgecombe finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, four assists, two rebounds, two steals and two blocks in a team-high 41 minutes. He finished as a team-best plus-15 on the night. It was his third straight 20-point outing, all of which came in Sixers wins.

With Tyrese Maxey building a legitimate All-NBA case—he had a team-high 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting against the Knicks on Saturday—and Joel Embiid finally rounding back into his previous form, the Sixers' ceiling is suddenly looking far higher than expected coming into the year. They still aren't in the inner tier of championship contenders, but they're now lurking as a legitimate dark horse in the Eastern Conference as long as they stay healthy.

Edgecombe changed everything for the Sixers

In the wake of Embiid's injury issues last season, Maxey needed to take over as the Sixers' primary scorer this year. He's passed that test with flying colors. Maxey is averaging a career-best 31.1 points per game while shooting 47.5 percent overall and 40.4 percent from deep, and he's chipping in a career-high 7.1 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 made three-pointers per game for good measure.

However, Embiid has proved over the past decade that one superstar player alone isn't enough to carry an entire team. Luckily, Edgecombe has emerged as a reliable sidekick.

Edgecombe and Maxey made NBA history by combining for 182 points over the Sixers' first three games of the season, which was the most of any backcourt duo over the past 50-plus seasons, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps. Edgecombe cooled off in November, but he's averaging 20.6 points on 46.6 percent shooting overall and 40.3 percent from deep over his past 10 games.

Scoring is hardly the only thing that Edgecombe brings to the table, though. His athleticism sticks out like a sore thumb (in a good way!) on both ends of the floor.

THE ROOK GOES COAST TO COAST. pic.twitter.com/kigOINycge
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 4, 2026

Edgecombe's immediate emergence as a legitimate difference-maker changes everything for the Sixers. They not only have a Big Three with Maxey, Embiid and Paul George; they now have a Big Four.

How the East stacks up

Even after Saturday's loss to the Sixers, the Knicks are still the favorite to win the East at +260, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. The Cleveland Cavaliers (+380), Detroit Pistons (+500), Boston Celtics (+500) and Orlando Magic (+750) aren't far behind, but those are the only five teams with odds below +1500. The Sixers (+1500) are in a tier with the Atlanta Hawks (+1700) and Miami Heat (+1900) as relative long shots, which is selling the Sixers short.

The Hawks are three games under .500 and are 2-8 over their past 10 games. It's become increasingly clear that Trae Young's days in Atlanta are likely winding to a close, although there doesn't appear to be much interest in him on the trade market. Jalen Johnson has emerged as a legitimate All-Star, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker is having a career year as well, but the Hawks aren't going anywhere meaningful this season unless Kristaps Porziņģis can overcome the illness that has now plagued him since last year.

The Heat are only one game behind the Sixers in the East standings even though Tyler Herro has played only six games all season. They have the contracts and draft capital to go big-game hunting on the trade market, although they figure to keep their powder dry until the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation gets resolved either way. Besides, it's not even clear if they'd be allowed to trade Terry Rozier amidst his federal investigation, which could limit their trade options.

The Sixers have already beaten the Knicks twice and beat Orlando once. They've lost both of their meetings with the Pistons thus far, although they didn't have Embiid or George for either game. The Sixers head to Orlando on Friday and have two home games in a row against the Cavaliers in mid-January, so they'll have a few more measuring-stick games on tap in the next few weeks.

If the Sixers stay healthy and remain afloat over that stretch, that could shift them into buyer mode ahead of the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline. If nothing else, they've proven that their upside is high enough that a salary dump to get under the luxury tax shouldn't be on the table.

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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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