VJ Edgecombe, the 76ers Salvaged Outlook, and the All-Time Saved Protected Picks
On the VJ Edgecombe selection the Sixers almost didn't get to make, how it changes their outlook, and where it ranks among first-round picks that teams had to tank to keep within the protected range.
Last season, Third Apron had its inaugural awards honoring NBA transactions and salary cap strategy, also known as the Yossis. The Hawks became the first recipients of the Most Improved Situation (MIS) award. One of Third Apron’s first posts detailed how the Dyson Daniels acquisition transformed their outlook from one of the bleakest in the league to a positive one.
We have an early contender for this season’s MIS with the Sixers. They notably signed Paul George to a four-year, $212 million maximum contract with the expectation of competing for a championship. They also made long-term commitments to Joel Embiid with a three-year, $193 million extension. Both combined to play 60 games in an injury-riddled season where the Sixers went 24-58.
Embiid’s unavailability at the beginning of the season made it rare that their All-Star trio, also featuring Tyrese Maxey, all played together. They were 11 games under .500 by the time they reached a brief stretch in February where they all played together in a final attempt to salvage the season. They lost every game and shut down all their top players shortly after.
The questionable health of both Embiid and George put the Sixers at a critical crossroads heading into the past offseason. Do they need to load-manage both players for the rest of their contracts? What if last year’s performance is closer to the norm going forward? Is it worth continuing with this core if they can’t get back to pre-injury All-Star levels?
The most crucial aspect of that disastrous 2024-25 season was that they weren’t guaranteed to keep their first-round pick. They owed their 2025 first-round pick, top 6 protected, to the Thunder as part of the Al Horford trade from 2020.
So when they decided to bottom out to increase their odds of keeping the selection, finishing with the sixth-worst record in the league wasn’t enough. They needed to finish with at least the fifth-worst record in the league to have a realistic chance at keeping their selection. They pulled it off by finishing two games worse than the Nets.
The draft lottery only draws for the top 4 selections. Every other team that doesn’t win a lottery selection selects 5-14 in order from worst record to best, with coin flips settling tiebreakers. So for the Sixers, the absolute “worst best-case” scenario is that only one team with a better record than them passes them if they don’t move up. That would result in them getting the sixth pick.
It goes without saying that the result of the 2025 draft lottery had massive implications for the Sixers’ present and future. They needed to keep this selection because they were far less likely to keep it again in 2026 when the protection reduces to top 4. But a not-so-young team constrained by two of the worst contracts in the league also needed a potential All-Star to look forward to.
Chaos ensued immediately when the Bulls dropped from 11 to 12. This meant that the Mavericks jumped into the top 4. That’s a historically early jump in the lottery that quickly used up the Sixers’ margin of error that night.
Then, the Nets fell from sixth to eighth, meaning the Spurs continue one of the hottest streaks of lottery luck in recent years. The next selection would determine if the Sixers would suffer the worst-case scenario of sending the best possible selection outside the protected range to the world-champion Thunder.
Not only did the Sixers keep their selection, but they had the good fortune of landing the third overall selection in a top-heavy draft. They selected VJ Edgecombe, who so far is the leader for rookie of the year and has made a major contribution to their 5-3 start. They’re currently set to convey the 19th pick to the Thunder. That’s a far cry from potentially the 7th overall pick last year.
The Sixers are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to select a player as talented and much-needed a fit as him. But there wasn’t much of a consensus on the third-best player in the 2025 draft after Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper, respectively. So they also deserve credit for making what wasn’t considered the obvious selection at the time.
They’ve operated as well as any team at drafting during that time. They made one of the best selections of the decade with the 21st pick in 2020 on Maxey. He’s looking like a superstar this season and potentially one of the greatest draft picks another team failed to keep within the protected range. They continued to find value on the margins by selecting Jared McCain 16th overall in the 2024 draft.
They’ve also won a good number of their transactions. Some of their notable trades include:
Deciding to trade Ben Simmons before it became apparent that he wouldn’t be an All-NBA talent anymore, with two first-round picks for James Harden.
Recouping two first-round picks and a first-round pick swap for Harden when he requested a trade.
Getting De’Anthony Melton for their 2022 first-round pick, which in retrospect was reasonable value considering the lack of talent available after the 22nd pick.
Caleb Martin for Quentin Grimes.
Even smaller-scale moves like trading a 2026 first-round pick, which will likely be the 30th overall pick, to the Wizards for four second-round picks, made sense.
But how does the organization reckon with the likelihood that the sum of these moves is eclipsed by the bad macro decisions from the 2024 offseason? It’s hard to shake the feeling that attempting to contend for a championship in the next two years is futile while they have these bad contracts.