It’s been quite the basketball journey for Justin Edwards over the past two years. Thankfully, he finally has NBA job security while also earning a nice payday.
There was a time Edwards was actually projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft before the start of his lone season with the Kentucky Wildcats. However, the former top-five prospect was never able to find any real consistency in Lexington and ended up going undrafted before signing a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers last summer.
Edwards would go on to have a solid rookie season with the Sixers, which led to the team converting his two-year deal into a standard NBA contract in February.
Now, Edwards is reportedly getting a multi-year deal that will increase his pay to $2 million next season, according to Shams Charania. The former Cat also gets two guaranteed years on his new deal, so he’ll be in line to collect over $4 million through the next two seasons.
In 44 games (26 starts) as a rookie, Edwards averaged 10.1 points (45.5% shooting), 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 steals in 26.3 minutes per game while hitting 36.4% of his 3s.
Then in the month of April, those averages rose to 14.4 points (45.9% shooting and 37.2% from deep), 3.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.2 steals per contest.
I’d say this former Cat has a nice future ahead of him in the pros.
Edwards will receive two guaranteed years on the new deal, sources said. He earns $2 million next season after the 76ers declined his $1.9M option. Edwards emerged as an upside rotation player last season, shooting 45.5% from the field and 36.3 from 3. https://t.co/ZDcgg8JWCz
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2025
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