Inside the guests’ locker room in Washington earlier this month, VJ Edgecombe slid over to affix Tyrese Maxey for a joint postgame interview.
Six minutes of banter, inside jokes, and real feedback ensued between the 76ers guards. Maxey scanned a field rating from the Sixers’ dominant victory over the Wizards and requested Edgecombe, with pseudo-exasperation, “Bro, you only had one defensive rebound? How is that possible?” Edgecombe interjected throughout a Maxey reply about teammates who had scored 30 factors off the bench this season as a result of the veteran had forgotten Justin Edwards and former Sixer Cameron Payne. And Maxey dropped that Edgecombe had began calling himself “PG1,” as a result of he had 10 assists that night time.
“Just trying to make life easier for my dog right here,” Edgecombe stated of Maxey. “They be hounding him. Guarding him full-court. Face guarding him. Doing all type of things. They trying their best to stop him, and they can’t, really.”
The scene was proof of how Maxey and Edgecombe might be playful in a single second, candidly maintain one another accountable in the subsequent, then honest about their partnership in the subsequent. They are equally wired: tenacious, hardworking, and poised for his or her age, but unafraid to let their personalities crack by way of their seriousness about their craft.
Now the Sixers’ electrical guards — whom we formally can dub “VJ Maxx,” due to their collaboration with retailer TJ Maxx for his or her outfits for Sunday’s regular-season finale — are getting into the postseason collectively for the first time. Joel Embiid, a former NBA MVP, stays out whereas recovering from last week’s emergency appendectomy. Paul George, at 35 years outdated, should now be characterised as a complementary participant who not too long ago returned from a 25-game NBA suspension for violating the league’s antidrug coverage.
» READ MORE: Sixers playoff predictions: Will they make it out of the Play-In Tournament? How far will they advance?
Maxey and Edgecombe have fueled this Sixers season as an All-NBA contender and first-year participant prone to end third on an distinctive Rookie of the Year poll. The Sixers probably will go so far as the pair can lead them, beginning with Wednesday’s play-in event matchup towards the Orlando Magic (7:30 p.m., Prime Video). And it marks one other transfer into the Sixers’ future that has already been percolating, with Maxey and Edgecombe creating the core duo round which the franchise ought to construct.
“We have this chip on our shoulder, I think,” Maxey stated. “We’re competitive, and we want to win. He don’t care about nothing but winning. He don’t care about his points. He don’t care about his stats. All he care about is winning, and it’s evident in his play, so that’s why we get along.”
Added Edgecombe: “[He’s] one of the best players in the NBA. … My goal is to be that, to be a superstar. So it’s helping me to know the right steps and everything it takes in how to do that.”
Maxey and Edgecombe have been initially linked due to, as Maxey known as it, the Sixers’ “very, very, very, very bad” 2024-25 season — plus fabulous draft lottery luck to land the third general decide.
Before the Sixers selected Edgecombe, Maxey remembered seeing clips of him dunking on “the kid from Gonzaga” (Joe Few) and speaking trash whereas enjoying with former Sixer Buddy Hield with the Bahamian nationwide group. Edgecombe, who’s such a movie junkie that he watched Maxey’s highschool footage, was impressed along with his quickness and ability.
They first met when Maxey stopped by the Sixers’ facility throughout Edgecombe’s predraft exercise. They had an off-the-cuff get-to-know-you dialog that day, earlier than Maxey known as to welcome him to the Sixers on draft night time.
When Maxey shared that his offseason exercises start at 6 a.m., and Edgecombe dedicated to becoming a member of and then really confirmed up, Maxey knew they have been a basketball match.
“And he’s smiling, too,” Maxey not too long ago advised The Inquirer. “But he’s a tough kid, and I feel like I’m tough, as well.”
The summer time coaching periods continued in Philly and Los Angeles, with a aspect quest to Disneyland, throughout which Maxey compelled Edgecombe to put on a Goofy hat. When Maxey peeked his head by way of a curtain to say, “Hey, buddy” throughout Edgecombe’s media day information convention, it was clear they’d established a foundational bond.
As the season approached, Maxey was prepared for one more leap into stardom. Coach Nick Nurse, in the meantime, had no hesitation about instantly placing Edgecombe in the beginning lineup. They possessed the explosive velocity and athleticism to push the tempo, assault the rim, and make defensive performs on the ball.
“If me and him are running,” Edgecombe not too long ago advised The Inquirer, “I think we’re hard to stop.”
» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: VJ Edgecombe’s postseason role, Joel Embiid’s future and more
Like in the Sixers’ opener at the Boston Celtics, when Maxey dropped 40 factors, and Edgecombe had 34 in a historic rookie debut. Or on Dec. 4, when Edgecombe received into place to gather a brief Maxey jumper for a go-ahead putback towards the Golden State Warriors, simply earlier than Maxey raced to the different finish for a game-clinching block at the buzzer. Or a couple of weeks after that, when Maxey dished to Edgecombe for the game-winning three-pointer to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in additional time.
Maxey ascended right into a top-five scorer in the NBA (28.3 factors per sport) and the league chief in minutes performed per sport (38), whereas additionally averaging 6.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.9 steals. Edgecombe demonstrated an all-around sport — he completed the season averaging 16 factors, 5.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.4 steals in 75 video games — and a knack for these crunch-time buckets.
In mid-February, they took the cross-country journey to Los Angeles to characterize the Sixers at All-Star Weekend. Maxey sat courtside as Edgecombe won Rising Stars MVP, earlier than serving to his group of youthful U.S. gamers win the Sunday event.
“He ain’t coming to watch it if I ain’t going to play hard,” Edgecombe stated after the Rising Stars occasion. “… I didn’t want to waste his time. I know he has a whole lot of stuff he could probably be doing.”
In between that on-court success, there have been alerts of their deepening rapport.
They flashed coordinated dance strikes throughout pregame introductions and postgame interviews. When Edgecombe deadpanned in February that he rated a depraved Maxey dunk on Minnesota star Anthony Edwards a “6 out of 10,” a flabbergasted Maxey responded with, “He can’t even dunk on people, and he gave me a 6 out of 10?!”
Cameras additionally caught a heated alternate between the two gamers throughout a Jan. 16 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, when each thought they have been supposed to choose up the ballhandler. Maxey didn’t understand the second had blown up on-line till his father, Tyrone, known as and requested, “Hey, you and VJ good?”
“Everybody thought we was mad at each other,” Maxey stated later. “That’s competitive nature. We can talk that out. We was just fine right after. … That’s my little brother.”
Added Edgecombe: “We’re hard on each other, and then we also understand. … Every time he has something to say, I know it’s always coming from a place of love.”
Nurse sees Maxey passing his early-career experiences on to Edgecombe. The most beneficial, the rookie says, is observing the consistency with which Maxey has carried himself all through the season.
Maxey, in the meantime, already views Edgecombe in a job much like his third season — aka, “we need him.” And although Edgecombe sometimes has gotten “lost in the sauce,” scoring-wise, Maxey is pleased with how the rookie has shifted into a number of roles.
That was very true final month, when the Sixers have been lacking 4 starters, together with Maxey. That pushed Edgecombe into the lead ballhandler and prime scoring possibility — and into encountering double groups for the first time “that I can remember,” he stated. Maxey, naturally, turned a supply of recommendation.
“I told him that I hate it,” Edgecombe stated following a March 14 win over the Brooklyn Nets. “But it’s a sign of respect. I’m going to ask him [how to combat it]. … But that just shows how good Tyrese is, also. I’ve just got to keep asking questions [and] try to figure out how to get through everything.”
Added George: “Tyrese is giving [Edgecombe] a ton of confidence … and I think it’s showing. When he’s on the court, it’s almost like he’s been here before.”
» READ MORE: Paul George will enter the postseason healthy for the Sixers, and with a ‘weight lifted off’ his shoulders
As the Sixers went down the stretch of the common season, former coach Doc Rivers stated he believes enjoying alongside Edgecombe has helped Maxey enhance his protection. On fan appreciation night time final week, the giveaway was a “Rookie Jam” T-shirt that includes Maxey and Edgecombe’s faces and video game-style rankings for varied abilities. San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson took a query about Edgecombe earlier than final week’s matchup towards the Sixers and instantly tied him to Maxey.
“It seems like he likes competing, and he and Maxey share that sentiment from afar,” Johnson stated. “To have that in two young men, for a franchise with that amount of talent and, it feels like, character … that’s a really good source [for] your main characters involved in your program.”
When requested the place Edgecombe has most helped him this season, Maxey grinned and stated, “He keeps me happy.” Maxey appreciates now being the veteran on the receiving finish of the kind of vitality enhance he is aware of he has offered to Embiid and former Sixers guard James Harden over the years. And although Maxey has shared a bit with Edgecombe about what to anticipate from the postseason, that demeanor is why “he’s the least of my worries.”
Before Sunday’s regular-season finale, Nurse stated he believes the Maxey-Edgecombe backcourt is “still unfolding.” As Edgecombe stepped right into a media scrum to face questions on Wednesday’s play-in sport towards Orlando, he wore Gucci sun shades to enrich his TJ Maxx sweater, tie, and slacks. From throughout the room, Maxey yelled Edgecombe seemed “clean as hell” and that he “ain’t a rookie no more.”
“Playoff Valdez,” Maxey stated, dropping Edgecombe’s full first identify.
Next, they will step into their first postseason collectively. And, maybe, into the Sixers’ future.
“Just to be his running mate,” Edgecombe stated. “As the years go on, I want us to go down in history.”
