Two rising Philadelphia 76ers standouts saved the club's season opener Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics — and it wasn't the team's two priciest players.
MORE: 76ers' VJ Edgecombe broke LeBron James’ rookie record in his NBA debut
First-year shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick out of Baylor in June's 2025 NBA Draft, shattered former 11-time All-Star point guard Allen Iverson's longstanding record for the most points scored by a Philadelphia rookie in their debut game. Edgecombe scored 34 points, besting Iverson's record of 30 set a whopping 29 years ago. Granted, NBA defenses were a bit tougher then, prior to the league's amended hand-check rules in the mid-2000s.
Regardless, it's still an impressive achievement.
All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey, meanwhile, poured in a game-high 40 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 shooting from free throw line.
2023 MVP center Joel Embiid, the team's best-compensated player, looked like he was still very much trying to get over the lingering knee injury that's limited him to just 58 combined regular season contests across the past two seasons. Although head coach Nick Nurse wisely limited the 7-foot-2 big man to just 20 minutes of action, the 31-year-old failed to impress in those 20 minutes, scoring four points on 1-of-9 shooting, pulling down six rebounds, and logging a team-worst -16 points.
Embiid inked a three-season, $188.2 million extension with Philadelphia last summer. He's making a an astronomic $55.2 million this season.
Former nine-time All-Star forward Paul George, 35, continues to recover from an offseason surgery and was on the shelf. Last year, he missed half his games during his debut season in Philadelphia, after inking a brutal four-year, $211.6 million free agent deal.
Wednesday's matchup provided an exciting path forward for Philadelphia: perhaps a core of Edgecombe and Maxey represent the group that 76ers team president Daryl Morey should build around, as Embiid and George's health woes continue to dog them.
The fastbreaking fit of Maxey and Edgecombe — compared to the more plodding offensive approaches of Embiid and a post-prime George — is already an absolute breath of fresh air to watch.
During a postgame interview with Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia 76ers, Edgecombe reflected on how well he's already meshing with Maxey — while also looking ahead to playing with a fully healthy Embiid at some point this year.
"I feel like like we both work really well in the open court. Playing fast is something that, like you said, we want to do," Edgecombe said. "Ain't much can keep up. Joe was out there here and there, but when Jo is fully back, it's going to be a different game. It's going to be better, 'cause he requires so much attention that."
"It's great to just be surrounded by superstars, man, people who can help me continue to grow as a player on and off the floor," Edgecombe added.
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