After a disastrous season in which Joel Embiid played only a handful of games before needing knee surgery, Philadelphia‘s reward was getting the third pick in Wednesday night’s NBA draft, which it used to select Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe.
Edgecombe, who was part of the Bahamian national team last summer alongside multiple current NBA players, is an explosive 19-year-old guard who could be a long-term complement to All-Star Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia’s backcourt.
Whom the Sixers were targeting with the pick was a matter of debate throughout the predraft process, and Edgecombe said he wasn’t sure he’d be the selection until his name was called.
“No, I had no clue what was going on,” he said. “I was like, I’m just living in the moment until they tell me that I’m going there when I was at the table. Like 15 seconds before they drafted me, before the commissioner called my name. They didn’t tell me nothing. It was still up in the air about what was going on.”
The 76ers’ pick nearly went to the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the Al Horford-Danny Green swap five years ago, but it had top-six protection, letting the Sixers retain it. The Thunder still ended up with two picks in the first round, drafting big man Thomas Sorber at pick No. 15 and guard Nique Clifford at No. 24. Tight on roster spots, the Thunder quickly dealt Clifford to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for a 2026 protected first-round pick, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Meanwhile, Ace Bailey — projected for most of the season as the third pick — ended up falling to the Utah Jazz at No. 5. The Rutgers star had a chaotic predraft process that included canceling a meeting with the Sixers.
Bailey’s teammate at Rutgers, Dylan Harper, went to the San Antonio Spurs with the No. 2 pick, while Cooper Flagg was drafted No. 1 by the Dallas Mavericks, as expected. The Spurs also selected forward Carter Bryant out of Arizona with the No. 14 pick.
At No. 4, the Charlotte Hornets selected Duke’s Kon Knueppel, a sweet-shooting guard who should help a Hornets team that struggled to hit catch-and-shoot 3s. The Wizards selected Tre Johnson, who led all Division I freshmen with 19.9 points per game last season at Texas, with the No. 6 pick.
The New Orleans Pelicans selected Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma) at No. 7, the Brooklyn Nets took 6-foot-8 guard Egor Demin out of BYU at No. 8 and the Raptors selected forward Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 9.
The Nets had five first-round picks heading into the draft and used them all, selecting Demin, Nolan Traore (19), Drake Powell (22), Ben Saraf (26) and Danny Wolf (27).
The Phoenix Suns, who acquired the No. 10 pick from the Houston Rockets last week as part of the Kevin Durant trade, selected Duke center Khaman Maluach at the same time as they acquired center Mark Williams from the Hornets.
Maluach’s selection gave Duke three top-10 picks and 50 in the first round since 1989, moving it past Kentucky (48) for the most by any school.
“It was so emotional getting to see my teammates, my fellow freshmen getting drafted,” Maluach said. “I was so happy for them because they deserve everything they have. They worked hard for it, for that moment, too.”
The Portland Trail Blazers traded the No. 11 pick to the Memphis Grizzlies, who selected Cedric Coward. The Blazers got the No. 16 pick, a 2028 first-round pick via Orlando and two seconds back in the deal. The Blazers then used the No. 16 pick on Chinese center Yang Hansen in a surprise as Portland currently has several centers on its roster.
Yang is the third Chinese-born player to be selected in the first round, joining Yao Ming (first in 2002) and Yi Jianlian (sixth in 2007).
After the Bulls selected French forward Noa Essengue with the No. 12 pick, the Atlanta Hawks swung a trade sending the No. 13 pick to the Pelicans for No. 23 and an unprotected 2026 first, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The pick in 2026 will be the most favorable between New Orleans’ and Milwaukee’s picks.
With the No. 13 pick, the Pelicans selected center Derik Queen out of Maryland, who hit the only winning buzzer-beater in the 2025 NCAA tournament. With the No. 23 pick, the Hawks selected defensive-minded wing Drake Powell out of North Carolina.
In another trade, the Wizards selected Florida star Walter Clayton Jr. with the No. 18 pick and then traded him to Utah for picks Nos. 21 and 43 as well as second-round picks in 2031 and 2032.
Clayton was the star of the NCAA tournament, scoring an SEC-record 134 points to help the Gators win the title.
The Wizards used the No. 21 pick they acquired in the deal to select Illinois wing Will Riley, the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year.
