The Philadelphia 76ers didn’t just miss Joel Embiid against the Detroit Pistons to close out the weekend. Hours before the team tipped off, the Sixers downgraded VJ Edgecombe on the injury report. He was listed as questionable due to an abdominal contusion.
Ultimately, the Sixers ended up ruling him out. In just the fourth game of the season, the 76ers are missing two players from their starting five. Embiid got the night off to manage his workload, while Edgecombe suffered what seems to be a minor setback in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Any setback is concerning—especially when it happens to a key starter—but 76ers head coach Nick Nurse didn’t seem too worried about the young star’s absence ahead of Sunday’s game. Nurse addressed Edgecombe before the Sixers tipped off.
“In the game last night, he took a knee to that area. He obviously played through the game and all that kind of stuff. Just very sore today,” Nurse told reporters. It seems like Edgecombe isn’t face a long-term recovery, but now he’s a player to monitor moving forward, as long as he’s popping up on the injury report.
VJ Edgecombe isn’t lost in the rotation
One of the most discussed narratives of the 76ers’ blockbuster offseason was how VJ Edgecombe would fit with the team’s new pieces. Last season, Edgecombe third in the pecking order on many nights, even when the entire starting five was healthy.
But with a lineup featuring Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and LeBron James, most see Edgecombe as the fifth-most important player out of the starters. However, he has impacted the 76ers in a positive way throughout the first week of the season.
Through the first three games of the season, Edgecombe averaged 32.7 minutes on the court. He is attempting 11.3 shots per game, struggling with his overall shooting efficiency, shooting 38.2% from the field. From deep, Edgecombe is keeping up with his same pace from last season, draining 35.3% of his threes, taking 5.7 shots from beyond the arc per game.
Edgecombe’s scoring is down to 12.3 points per game, but his rebounds (8.0 RPG) are up, along with his steals (1.7 SPG). There is a lot of season left for the 76ers, but Edgecombe continues to look like a key piece for the team, with or without all of the star power in the mix. Hopefully, for the Sixers’ sake, the soreness eases up before the Sixers pay a visit to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, October 28.
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