January 02, 2026
Petre Thomas/Imagn Images
Right before the literal and figurative buzzer sounded, VJ Edgecombe gave the Sixers one of their single best moments of 2025.
Over the first two months and change of the 2025-26 season, the Sixers' longest flight was from New York to Chicago. On Christmas Day, the team boarded a flight from Philadelphia to Chicago, beginning the team's longest road trip of the year so far. They have since played in Oklahoma City, Memphis and Dallas.
The team is now in New York. On Saturday they will face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden for the second time in as many weeks – VJ Edgecombe stole the show about 30 miles away from his high school that night – before returning home, where they will play 11 of their remaining 15 games in the month of January.
After losses to the Bulls and Thunder, the Sixers' first long trip of the year appeared to be doomed. But Edgecombe hit the second game-winner of his young career in Memphis on Tuesday, then strung together another excellent two-way showing in Dallas as Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George looked as cohesive as ever in Thursday's win over the Mavericks. Now the Sixers are one more win at Madison Square Garden away from going 3-2.
In this week's Friday film, taking a look at three things that have emerged through four games on the Sixers' annual Disney On Ice swing:
Right now, the clear headliner of this trip – and it feels almost impossible that anything that happens in New York will top it, either – is VJ Edgecombe's clutch play in Memphis, from a barrage of timely baskets in the fourth quarter to the second game-winning basket of his young NBA career.
Edgecombe played the entire second half and overtime as the Sixers topped the Grizzlies. In the final 17 minutes of the game, he scored 17 points, and his game-winning three-pointer make was his fourth triple of that stretch. It was a marvelous display:
VJ Edgecombe just about single-handedly prevented the Sixers from experiencing another fourth-quarter collapse with his scoring and shot-making... then added a game-winner in overtime.
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 31, 2025
All of Edgecombe's baskets in the fourth quarter and overtime of Tuesday's win in Memphis: pic.twitter.com/UDsgO3yFdr
From his historic NBA debut until now, Edgecombe has been a terrific clutch shooter and scorer. The sample size is smaller than one any statistician would draw conclusions from, but Edgecombe's signature confidence and self-belief seem to be carrying into all sorts of high-pressure environments. Whenever he is asked about it, Edgecombe shrugs it off. This is what he believes he is supposed to be doing.
In Dallas, the Sixers did not need quite as much late-game heroism from Edgecombe, in part because he was so good all night long. About a 90-minute drive from Baylor University, where he played his college ball, Edgecombe notched his ninth 20-plus-point game, scoring 23 points on only 14 shots and continuing to thrive as a defensive pest. But, of course, Edgecombe left his mark on the game in its final moments with one of the more ridiculous blocked shots you will ever see – he blocked the same shot twice, one with each hand, as he just kept soaring in the air – and the final dagger from three-point range.
Another terrific performance from the rookie:
VJ Edgecombe continues to give the Sixers excellent two-way production. His line on Thursday in Dallas:
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) January 2, 2026
23 points (9-14 FG, 3-6 3P, 2-3 FT)
5 rebounds (2 offensive)
2 assists
4 steals
1 block (but he blocked that shot once with each hand)
Full highlights: pic.twitter.com/PFa97JEH4d
One more note on Edgecombe: Dor a 20-year-old guard already collecting his fair share of scoring explosions, his ability to impact winning when the ball does not find him is wildly impressive. His scoring was muted for the first three quarters of the Memphis game, but his defense was off the charts for much of the game. This was a stellar two-way sequence:
VJ Edgecombe reads where the ball is going and intercepts the pass, ignites transition and ends up with a dunk. An awesome two-way sequence: pic.twitter.com/0BDWp1UcCP
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 31, 2025
Edgecombe, now 28 games into his professional career, has been a considerably better three-point shooter than just about anyone expected heading into the season. It has generated a much higher baseline of production than anybody could have foreseen, in part because he is already a high-level perimeter defender with tremendous feel for the game. The Sixers keeping the pick they eventually used on Edgecombe and him immediately blossoming to this degree is the best and most important thing to happen to the organization in 2025.
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The month of December was a nightmare for Grimes; he played in 10 games and his 4-for-9 shooting line in the Memphis game marked his second and final time making at least 40 percent of his shots from the field. But he was quite good on Tuesday; his makes all felt timely:
Adem Bona frees Quentin Grimes for a corner three with a screen that might have been impromptu but was perfect nonetheless: pic.twitter.com/RJ5Kr1hDpr
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 31, 2025
With Dominick Barlow in foul trouble all night and Jabari Walker struggling, the Sixers needed to go small against a Dallas team that likes to go big. That meant Grimes often had to guard way above his size, manning the Cooper Flagg assignment. He led the charge as the Sixers held Flagg to a 5-for-15 shooting line.
Grimes totaled three blocks and two steals on Thursday, but also had an incredibly efficient scoring night. He shot 7-for-9 from the field and 5-for-7 from beyond the arc, including a flurry of buckets to put the game away in the fourth quarter.
Full highlights of Grimes' terrific night:
Quentin Grimes gave the Sixers a massive two-way lift in their win over Dallas on Thursday, scoring 19 points on just nine shots to go with seven rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals. He spent parts of the game guarding way up on Cooper Flagg.
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) January 2, 2026
Full highlights: pic.twitter.com/WdHSD8tj3W
With the Sixers as close to full strength as they have been since Grimes arrived in Philadelphia, the 25-year-old has at times looked a bit lost when it comes to balancing his own aggression and not taking too many shots away from Maxey, Embiid and George.
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For a few weeks, Adem Bona's minutes have clearly outpaced those of Andre Drummond. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse went with Bona over Drummond in the second half in Chicago and it nearly flipped the game. With Embiid sidelined in Oklahoma City, the Sixers needed both of their backup centers, but Bona was once again considerably better. He more than held his own against the defending champions:
Adem Bona might have been the Sixers' second-best player in Oklahoma City on Sunday:
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 29, 2025
11 points (3-4 FG, 5-6 FT)
8 rebounds (2 offensive)
1 assist
4 blocks
Full highlights, from all of Bona's made shots and blocked shots to other plays that stood out: pic.twitter.com/453kJRwF9C
So, when the Sixers got Embiid back in Memphis, the choice was clear. Nurse went with Bona, and Drummond – whose resurgence helped keep the Sixers afloat for several weeks – never got off the bench. He is not without flaws, but Bona affords the Sixers some schematic versatility on the defensive end that no other player can given his athletic prowess.
Bona's energy popped all night long in Memphis without him even attempting a shot. He shared the floor with Embiid for a few stretches, and that combination found some juice:
Adem Bona did not attempt a single field goal in 25:36 of action in the Sixers' win over Memphis on Tuesday, but he completely flipped the energy of the game in his team's direction. The Sixers found some flashes of promise playing Bona and Joel Embiid together: pic.twitter.com/Zt4WAajf0l
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 31, 2025
In a disappointing loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 23, Embiid played alongside both Bona and Drummond out of necessity. Based on his postgame comments, Embiid was not overjoyed by the results.
"It was alright. Obviously, it's hard to judge because a lot of times I thought it looked pretty good, but we were also not able to take advantage," Embiid said. "...If you're not shooting well from three, it's hard to get the right spacing because the defense collapses on everything... It was worth a try, and if that's going to happen again, we just need to keep working on it."
Perhaps the Sixers did work on it before facing the Grizzlies. They did not go to it much against Dallas, whose frontcourt has been weakened by injuries of late, but did test it out again for about 84 seconds. Drummond backed up Embiid to start that game, then Nurse once again flipped to Bona. The results in Memphis were encouraging enough that the Sixers might feel inclined to continue working on it.
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