After missing three games due to a lumbar contusion (bruised lower back), Bahamian professional basketball player Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe returned to the lineup of the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, and immediately paid dividends.
The dynamic rookie guard notched his 17th 20-point outing of the 2025-2026 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, helping the Sixers to beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 139-129, at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Edgecombe finished with 21 points in total, shooting 7-for-15 from the floor and 1-for-5 from three-point range. He added five rebounds, five assists and three steals in a strong all-around performance. The Bahamian sensation showed little to no effects from the injury that kept him out of the lineup for a week, as he was active on both ends of the floor, even flying in for an impressive two-handed dunk about midway through the second quarter.
The 20-year-old Bahamian rookie has started 58 of 58 games played for the Sixers this season, missing just his second stretch of the season last week. He missed three games in November as well due to back spasms.
However, Edgecombe remains one of the more productive first-year players in the NBA this season.
The number three overall pick out of Baylor University remains third on the Kia Rookie Ladder — a measuring stick of the top first-year players in the league for the end-of-year rookie of the year award.
Edgecombe is averaging 15.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from three point range. Also, he functioned a large part of this season without former All-NBA players Joel Embiid and Paul George.
Edgecombe is third among all rookies in scoring, first in steals, tied for third in assists and seventh in rebounding.
In his return on Tuesday, Edgecombe had to shoulder the load a bit more as all-star starter Tyrese Maxey sat out along with Embiid and George — the latter due to a 25-game suspension for violating the anti-drug program of the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
Embiid has a strained right oblique and Maxey suffers from a tendon injury in his right pinkie finger.
Others stepped up on Tuesday night. Edgecombe ran the point and delivered. He was one of four players with 20-plus points for the Sixers.
Cameron Payne came off the bench and scored a game-high 32 points on 9-for-10 shooting from the field, 8-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc. Kelly Oubre Jr. added 30 points on 10-for-24 shooting, Quentin Grimes added 23 and Edgecombe dropped in 21. Dominick Barlow and Trendon Watford gave them six players in double figures with 11 apiece.
Ty Jerome paced the Grizzlies with 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field, 4-for-10 from three-point range. GG Jackson added 15 points off the bench, Rayan Rupert scored 14 off the bench and Cedric Coward dropped in 13.
The game was tied at 32 at the end of the first quarter, and the Grizzlies took a 71-68 lead at the half, and were up 104-98 at the end of three quarters. The Sixers outscored the Grizzlies by 16 points in the fourth to run away with the victory.
Even with the win on Tuesday, the Sixers have lost four of their last six games and have a 35-30 win/loss record on the season, eighth in the Eastern Conference of the NBA.
They will go on the road to play the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons in a game that will be played at 7 p.m. tonight. The Sixers will host the Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trail Blazers in back-to-back games on the weekend.