On Monday, the Sixers will play in an incredibly rare weekday afternoon game. Their road contest against the Charlotte Hornets has been moved up four hours to a 3 p.m. tip-off because of inclement weather; the change will give the Sixers some valuable extra hours in their efforts to depart Charlotte for Philadelphia after the game so they are home in time to play host to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

This will be the second game of the year between the Sixers and Hornets; the Sixers won a thrilling home opener against Charlotte in October. But the Hornets, despite an 18-28 record, are 15th in the NBA with a +0.7 Net Rating. They have lost a tremendous number of close games and are a better team than that record indicates. That is in part thanks to rookie Kon Knueppel, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, selected one spot after VJ Edgecombe.

Edgecombe, Knueppel and No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg are having three elite rookie seasons, and while Flagg appears to be considered the frontrunner to win Rookie of the Year, all three players are submitting debut campaigns good enough to contend for that award in any given year.

This week's 5 Sixers thoughts compares the brilliance of Edgecombe and Knueppel before moving on to some Sixers rotation tweaks:

Two incredible rookie seasons

It is difficult to imagine, given how outstanding Edgecombe has been and how it has energized Sixers fans, that the player taken behind him has been better by many metrics. There is not much use in debating which of Edgecombe or Knueppel is having a better rookie season; they are completely different players in entirely different situations. There are real cases on both sides.

Knueppel has been a far better offensive player, with nearly unprecedented scoring efficiency marks. But Edgecombe has been a positive-impact starter on both ends of the floor for a team that is winning games and considerably better when the 20-year-old is on the floor.

If anything, it is just worth marveling at how terrific both players have been:

Which player would a team rather have moving forward? It depends on what that team needs and whether it prefers what Edgecombe brings, which is a high floor with flashes of star-like production on both ends, or the monstrous offensive ceiling that comes with a shooter of Knueppel's magnitude who also has legitimate inside-the-arc scoring chops.

Knueppel's lack of athletic explosiveness might make it seem like he cannot reach a superstar level, but when a player is nearing 50/40/90 splits on significant volume as a 20-year-old rookie, anything is possible. And for someone with Edgecombe's combination of athletic prowess, confidence and feel, the same is true.

MORE: How do you fit alongside Joel Embiid? His teammates explain

Dominick Barlow talks move to bench

As Kelly Oubre Jr. has returned and given the Sixers a significant two-way punch, head coach Nick Nurse contemplated making a change to a starting five that has thrived for weeks. He recently pulled the trigger, moving Dominick Barlow to the bench for the first time since November, sliding Paul George up to power forward and inserting Oubre. He did not describe his fifth starting spot as fluid or a platoon where Oubre and Barlow could slide in and out. This sounds permanent. But Barlow remains a critical part of this rotation; Nurse made sure to note that.

"Nothing really changes," Barlow said Saturday. "My role's still the same, just playing [in] a different lineup. So I think just trying to find a way to bring what I do best to a different lineup, I think that's the challenge for myself that I'm trying to figure out."

How was the change explained to Barlow?

"Communication-wise, just matchup-based," Barlow said. "Kelly's playing really well. Nobody told me I was doing anything wrong, so I don't take it personally... Kelly's my teammate, he's playing well. He's been a starter for a long time. So it's not, like, shocking to me that a guy that's averaging almost 15 [points per game] for us is starting again. My goal isn't to – I mean, it is, but my goal is to just be a positive basketball player, whether that's coming off the bench, starting, playing five minutes, playing 40 minutes. I just want to affect the game positively... I'm just trying to focus on myself and how I can help the team win."

Barlow's mature handling of the benching was not a shock to Nurse at all. He recently lauded Barlow's professionalism, saying the 22-year-old always has the same demeanor, whether he plays heavy minutes or very few at all.

"I've obviously always wanted to play, but I don't think complaining will really do anything," Barlow said. "People will get sick of hearing it, so I don't think that's the right approach to it... But while I am playing, just playing hard, trying to keep those minutes."

Why Jabari Walker could get the first conversion

It is not a condemnation of Jabari Walker to say that Barlow has clearly been the better of the Sixers' pair of two-way standouts. Barlow has likely been the most productive two-way player in the NBA in 2025-26, and Walker is not that far behind him. Walker being a reliable situational rotation piece does more than enough to pay off his deal, but Barlow's multiple-month stint as a starter reflects his superior play.

So, the natural inclination might be to think that if both players are converted to standard contracts as is expected, Barlow's conversion would be the priority. However, it is very much in play that Walker does not only get his standard deal before Barlow, but does so by nearly a month.

Despite his two-way status, Walker is the only member of the Sixers to be available for every single game so far. The team is bringing back Charles Bassey on a 10-day deal so that can remain the case; the Sixers will not be allowed to have any two-way players active for the rest of the season if they do not have a full standard roster. Barlow, meanwhile, missed nine games early in the season due to an elbow laceration and another one in December because of an illness.

Walker's remaining days of availability can get him through the trade deadline, but in order to continue dressing for every single game he would need to be converted before a game on Feb. 5 which will tip off hours after the deadline passes. At that point, Barlow would have 10 games remaining on his two-way deal, which could take him up until a game on March 3, before which he would need his standard contract.

It is not an inherent fact that the Sixers will exhaust every single game of two-way availability from Walker and Barlow before performing conversions, but generally speaking teams try to do that for reasons related to both finances and roster-building flexibility. 

Adem Bona has a firm grasp on the backup center spot

Since Joel Embiid will not play on Monday afternoon in Charlotte, Nurse will have to lean on both Adem Bona and Andre Drummond in his starting lineup. He likes to start Drummond in those games because most teams have more muscle in their starting units and go smaller on the bench. But in four consecutive Embiid appearances, Nurse has gone with Bona as his backup five and Drummond has not played.

All year long, Nurse has been riding the hot hand at backup center. Once it has gone cold, he has toggled to the other option. It is a difficult dynamic for Drummond and Bona to manage, but they are close and have learned to navigate it as best they can. But Bona's prolonged stretch of backing up Embiid has been the longest Nurse has gone with one player in that spot in over a month. What is the youngster doing well?

"He doesn't foul as much anymore," Tyrese Maxey said after Bona gave the Sixers a double-double and nearly powered a successful comeback in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns. "We used to put him in the game, he'd get four fouls immediately. Now he doesn't foul. He plays solid. He knows how to time blocks. He's catching the ball really well right now off the rim, and quick dump-off passes. And he's offensive rebounding his tail off. He's playing really well this season and he's played really hard. And I think the biggest thing for him: he stayed ready. Some games he doesn't play when Process doesn't play... He's done everything, man. He's played with Joel, without him, and we appreciate that, because he's playing hard."

Maxey went on to comment that he has seen Bona's confidence grow leaps and bounds from where it was when he arrived in Philadelphia as a rookie last season. Bona said it stems from the trust he feels from coaches and teammates.

"I would say it's trust, and I would say consistent work," Bona said. "Having the coaching staff trust me, my teammates trust me, I think that just [gives me the confidence to keep] working on my craft."

MORE: Takeaways from Sixers-Knicks and Bassey's return

Many Sixers receive All-Star votes from fellow players

Last week, the NBA announced the 10 starters for the 2026 All-Star game, including Maxey. But the league also released the results for player balloting, which is a notoriously bizarre process. The results there are a far cry from those of the fan or media voting; all sorts of players get votes that one would never anticipate.

Case in point:

One vote-getter on the Sixers roster thought he was being lied to when informed of his total. Another, who said he exclusively voted for his own teammates, speculated that he received a vote from his mother. The player did not back down from this take, even as he acknowledged that his mother is not an NBA player.

"Your mom is your biggest supporter," the player said. "Always."