Most people had the Philadelphia 76ers staring at an ugly fate when Tyrese Maxey got injured and Kelly Oubre followed suit. After all, they were already missing Joel Embiid and Paul George amid a tight race to stay alive in the playoff race. Instead, the team managed to rack up wins along the way, and with their stars already making their respective returns, they are in great shape to snag an outright playoff berth.
But more importantly, the team managed to get solid contributions from their role players, who all had to step up in the absence of the main gunners. One player who especially reveled in a more prominent role is Justin Edwards, who has filled in admirably for the injured Kelly Oubre and George (prior to his return from a league suspension).
The sophomore forward had immensely struggled this season when it comes to playing consistent basketball. His role got drastically reduced, thanks in large part to the team having more bodies to trot out at the forward positions. His shooting slump at the start of the campaign was also too brutal to justify handing him minutes. As of late, though, it seems like has has slowly turned things around.
Justin Edwards has re-emerged as a solid rotational piece for the 76ers
Over his last 10 games, Edwards has registered 12.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.7 steals a night on 52.4 percent shooting from the field, which includes an impressive 45.8 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc. He has gotten nearly 25 minutes per outing during that stretch, mounting a late-season argument to get more minutes even when the team gets full healthy.
For the season, Edwards is now shooting 37.3 percent from three-point territory, which is a higher mark than what he turned in during his rookie campaign. His activity on the defensive end as of late has also been noteworthy.
This is clearly now what the injury bug had in mind when it afflicted the 76ers, but the team will gladly take it. As they inch closer to the postseason, they need every kind of advantage they can extract out of their roster, especially with the team still prone to missing key guys on a nightly basis.
The body of work in a season cannot just be hinged on a limited stretch of games, but Justin Edwards seems to be peaking at the right time for the 76ers. While his role will likely continue to be a minor one, he at least has a shot at moving the needle for this team when it matters the most.