MAKING HISTORY
6/23/2025 10:46:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Edgecombe expected to be Baylor’s highest-ever NBA Draft pick
VJ Edgecombe is expected to make Baylor basketball program history Wednesday night in the NBA Draft, which begins at 7 p.m. CT at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and will be broadcast by ABC and ESPN.
A projected lottery pick before he ever arrived on the Baylor campus, the 6-foot-4 Edgecombe is expected to be taken with either the third pick by the Philadelphia 76ers or the fourth pick by the Charlotte Hornets – making him the highest-ever draft selection for a Baylor player.
Four other BU players have been top-10 picks, the highest being Ekpe Udoh at No. 6 overall in 2010 by the Golden State Warriors. Including Ja'Kobe Walter at No. 19 overall to Toronto last year, the Bears will be the only program in the country with top-19 picks in each of the last five drafts.
"I've definitely gone to (NBA) Drafts and had to stay longer," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, who's had eight first-round draft picks and 14 players taken overall in the previous 15 years. "I won't have to stay longer for him."
Part of a recruiting class that was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, Edgecombe was Baylor's third-straight Big 12 Freshman of the Year, averaging 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game for a 20-win team that lost to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said Edgecombe, a native of Bimini, Bahamas, "may be the best overall athlete in the draft, from speed, agility, vertical leap; he's a highflyer." He compared the 19-year-old guard to NBA all-stars Victor Oladipo and Dwyane Wade at the same age.
"I think if you look back at Dwyane Wade when he was a freshman, you might think VJ Edgecombe was better than him as a freshman," Bilas said. "Same thing with Oladipo. I think he rebounds pretty well, especially on the offensive end. He just flies in from the perimeter and can get tip dunks and grab offensive boards."
Edgecombe caught the nation's attention with his ESPN SportsCenter dunks, beginning with a posterizing dunk over Gonzaga coach Mark Few's son, Joe, in the season opener. But his defensive prowess, especially as a college freshman, is why he shot up the NBA Draft boards.
"Whoever drafts him is going to get somebody that can impact the game on both ends of the court," Drew said. "The size, length, speed is one thing, but just to be able to compete each and every play, it's a different level (in the NBA). And VJ has that. He has more size, strength, athleticism. His shot (mechanics) changed. And because of that, he'll be a more consistent shooter."
During an NBA Draft Combine interview, Edgecombe said the team that drafts him is "going to get a two-way player, someone that's coming in Day One ready to play, that's going to play with all their heart for that program and represent the front of that jersey with pride."
But they're also getting much more than a Double-D (defense and dunking) player.
"Everyone looks at me as a defensive person, just someone that dunks," he said. "But I know I can provide more than that, for sure."
With 14 players already drafted, Drew has had more draft selections than the Bears produced in their first 100-plus years of basketball (13). This past season, Baylor had a program-record 11 players make appearances during NBA games, including rookies Yves Missi, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jalen Bridges and RayJ Dennis.
"Scott Drew is one of the truly great coaches in the country," Bilas said, "and he's done an amazing job at Baylor of creating a culture that players can come in and out of, and it seems like they're absorbed into that culture right away. The culture is contagious in a positive way. He's had so many pros that have come out of Baylor.
"You're certainly not going to reach the heights that Baylor has reached – winning a national championship and going to all these Elite Eights and all these NCAA tournaments – you don't do that without talent. But it's also talent and high character. And I think VJ Edgecombe fits that mold really well."
Baylor has three other draft-eligible players in 6-7 forward Norchad Omier and guards Jeremy Roach and Jayden Nunn, but they will likely have to go the free-agent route. An All-Big 12 first-team selection after transferring from Miami, Omier has an outside shot at being picked late in the second round.
"The rebounding, extra-possessions piece is his ticket to making an NBA team," Bilas said of Omier, who averaged 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds in his one season at Baylor. "But if you're taking odds, I think it's more likely that he goes undrafted. And that's not all bad. There are a lot of undrafted free agents who have carved out really nice careers for themselves in the NBA. And I wouldn't bet against Norchad, he's a tough dude."
A projected lottery pick before he ever arrived on the Baylor campus, the 6-foot-4 Edgecombe is expected to be taken with either the third pick by the Philadelphia 76ers or the fourth pick by the Charlotte Hornets – making him the highest-ever draft selection for a Baylor player.
Four other BU players have been top-10 picks, the highest being Ekpe Udoh at No. 6 overall in 2010 by the Golden State Warriors. Including Ja'Kobe Walter at No. 19 overall to Toronto last year, the Bears will be the only program in the country with top-19 picks in each of the last five drafts.
"I've definitely gone to (NBA) Drafts and had to stay longer," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, who's had eight first-round draft picks and 14 players taken overall in the previous 15 years. "I won't have to stay longer for him."
Part of a recruiting class that was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country, Edgecombe was Baylor's third-straight Big 12 Freshman of the Year, averaging 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game for a 20-win team that lost to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said Edgecombe, a native of Bimini, Bahamas, "may be the best overall athlete in the draft, from speed, agility, vertical leap; he's a highflyer." He compared the 19-year-old guard to NBA all-stars Victor Oladipo and Dwyane Wade at the same age.
"I think if you look back at Dwyane Wade when he was a freshman, you might think VJ Edgecombe was better than him as a freshman," Bilas said. "Same thing with Oladipo. I think he rebounds pretty well, especially on the offensive end. He just flies in from the perimeter and can get tip dunks and grab offensive boards."
Edgecombe caught the nation's attention with his ESPN SportsCenter dunks, beginning with a posterizing dunk over Gonzaga coach Mark Few's son, Joe, in the season opener. But his defensive prowess, especially as a college freshman, is why he shot up the NBA Draft boards.
"Whoever drafts him is going to get somebody that can impact the game on both ends of the court," Drew said. "The size, length, speed is one thing, but just to be able to compete each and every play, it's a different level (in the NBA). And VJ has that. He has more size, strength, athleticism. His shot (mechanics) changed. And because of that, he'll be a more consistent shooter."
During an NBA Draft Combine interview, Edgecombe said the team that drafts him is "going to get a two-way player, someone that's coming in Day One ready to play, that's going to play with all their heart for that program and represent the front of that jersey with pride."
But they're also getting much more than a Double-D (defense and dunking) player.
"Everyone looks at me as a defensive person, just someone that dunks," he said. "But I know I can provide more than that, for sure."
With 14 players already drafted, Drew has had more draft selections than the Bears produced in their first 100-plus years of basketball (13). This past season, Baylor had a program-record 11 players make appearances during NBA games, including rookies Yves Missi, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jalen Bridges and RayJ Dennis.
"Scott Drew is one of the truly great coaches in the country," Bilas said, "and he's done an amazing job at Baylor of creating a culture that players can come in and out of, and it seems like they're absorbed into that culture right away. The culture is contagious in a positive way. He's had so many pros that have come out of Baylor.
"You're certainly not going to reach the heights that Baylor has reached – winning a national championship and going to all these Elite Eights and all these NCAA tournaments – you don't do that without talent. But it's also talent and high character. And I think VJ Edgecombe fits that mold really well."
Baylor has three other draft-eligible players in 6-7 forward Norchad Omier and guards Jeremy Roach and Jayden Nunn, but they will likely have to go the free-agent route. An All-Big 12 first-team selection after transferring from Miami, Omier has an outside shot at being picked late in the second round.
"The rebounding, extra-possessions piece is his ticket to making an NBA team," Bilas said of Omier, who averaged 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds in his one season at Baylor. "But if you're taking odds, I think it's more likely that he goes undrafted. And that's not all bad. There are a lot of undrafted free agents who have carved out really nice careers for themselves in the NBA. And I wouldn't bet against Norchad, he's a tough dude."
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