One is an MVP candidate, and the other is a candidate for rookie of the year.
Together, they form one of the more lethal backcourts in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
For much of the first half of the season, all was well between Philadelphia 76ers’ all-star guard Tyrese Maxey and his running mate Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe, but tempers appeared to flare over the weekend, when Maxey gestured to the Bahamian star for an apparent missed assignment on the basketball court, leaving Cleveland Cavaliers’ star guard Donovan Mitchell open for a three-pointer.
A back and forth confrontation carried over to the bench during a timeout where they were engaged in a heated exchange, and eventually, the Sixers went on to lose that game to the Cavaliers — their second straight loss, and both to the Cavs.
Maxey, who is currently eighth in the Kia Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ladder, summed it up as miscommunication on the court. He said he and Edgecombe spoke about it, and they have since moved on. Edgecombe himself, currently third on the Kia Rookie Ladder, said there is no bad blood between the two, clarifying that what happened between him and Maxey was simply teammates going at one another in the heat of the moment.
The Sixers are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference of the NBA with a 23-18 win/loss record. They hosted the Phoenix Suns at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last night, but the result of that game was unavailable up to press time.
“For the record, we do not hate each other man,” Edgecombe said on the Sixers’ postgame show following a win over the Indiana Pacers, before Maxey interrupted jokingly, “I hate you, don’t talk to me ever again, and go in the locker room.”
The video of the two in the heated exchange went viral, making the rounds on social media, and Maxey addressed the video after Monday’s win over the Pacers.
“I was not aware until my dad called me and was like, ‘hey, you and VJ good?’ I was like, ‘uh, yeah. Why?’” said Maxey to reporters. “A couple people sent it to me, and I was like, I just laughed at it. We want to win so, so bad, and we talked about the scenario of, like, not leaving Donovan Mitchell. I felt like I could go forward, go under all of it (in the defensive scheme), and I catch him on the other side, and he hits a shot, he makes a shot. You know what I’m saying? That’s kind of how it is. I didn’t want him to leave Donovan Mitchell.”
Maxey was strong in the game, scoring 29 points, and adding eight assists and eight steals, leading the team to a 113-104 victory over the Pacers. Edgecombe had a respectable performance with 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
The duo have certainly sparked Philadelphia throughout the season. They have been having fun all season, thriving in a fast-paced open court system that has benefitted both players.
Maxey is third in the league in scoring at 30.2 points per game, and was just voted in as a starter for the 75th NBA All-Star Game, set for the middle of February. Edgecombe is likely headed to the NBA All-Star Weekend himself, possibly suiting up for the Castrol Rising Stars game, which features some of the top rookies, top second-year players, and top NBA G League players, showcasing future league stars in a fast-paced, target-score format.
All-star weekend will be hosted by the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
Maxey is one of just three players in the league averaging over 30 points per game, and he is also second in steals at 2.1 per game and fourth in three-pointers made at 3.6 per game. He has started 39 of 39 games played for the Sixers this year, shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range.
Bahamian star guard Edgecombe is having a phenomenal first year in the NBA.
He is averaging 15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from three-point range. The 20-year-old rookie guard out of Baylor University has started all 37 games played for the Sixers this season.
At the end of the day, the exchange on Friday appears to be just a minor scuffle in the midst of growing pains, that is quite normal between teammates in the heat of competition during the season.
“I just told him, like, man, like in certain scenarios where certain principles go out the window. Like, this dude (Mitchell) is really good, and he had 35 on his last night. I say all that to say, we just want to win. Like, we laughed about it after the game. I was the first person to tell him, like, ‘dude, you shooting five times in a basketball game is not going to cut it for us. Like we need you — you got to be up to 10, 12. Like, you got to be aggressive.’ So, man, that’s fine. That’s my dog. That’s my little brother.”
The duo appears to be locked in as the starting backcourt of the Sixers for the foreseeable future, and they have developed significant chemistry throughout the season.
After the win over the Pacers on Monday, Maxey and Edgecombe put to bed any notion that the two are feuding and not working well together. On the contrary, the dynamic duo appear to be enjoying a productive 2025-2026 season together, and if former MVP Joel Embiid can stay healthy for a playoff run, the Sixers could prove to be a tough out for any opponent.
The Sixers will host the Houston Rockets on Thursday in a game that will start at 7 p.m., and the New York Knicks on Saturday in a game at 3 p.m. The Sixers and Knicks game will be televised on the ABC Network.
As for Edgecombe, he continues to make an impression in his first season in the NBA. The high-flying guard from Bimini is producing on both ends of the floor, and is one of the main reasons why the Sixers are right in the mix this year after struggling through a losing season a year ago.