The last hot take, I had the Dallas Cowboys beating the Green Bay Packers. That game resulted in a 40-40 tie, making my record 1-0-1 on this year. This made it the most recent tie in a NFL game since the 2022 season. Here’s my hot take for this week.
As the NBA season starts, a lot of talk surrounding this star studded draft class with big names like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and Tre Johnson. However, none of those future stars match up to the most athletic player in the class, V.J. Edgecombe. The third overall pick out of Baylor, named Big 12 freshman of the year and received second-team all-big 12 honors after 15 points per game his freshman season. Baylor head coach Scott Drew said, “Edgecombe’s athleticism and quick twitch is unteachable and he is going to be a problem for a lot of years.”
After his freshman season, he declared for the NBA draft as a guaranteed lottery pick. After the Dallas Mavericks selected Cooper Flagg number one and the San Antonio Spurs selected Dylan Harper number two, the Philadelphia 76ers had the third overall pick and took a chance on Edgecombe. Edgecombe took the NBA world by storm on draft night after he talked about how he was living off of a generator with no electricity for seven years of his childhood. Ever since draft night, it was evident Edgecombe was NBA ready.
The 76ers opening night was set on Oct. 22, which was Edgecombe’s NBA debut. In his first game, he dropped 34 points, which was the most points by an NBA rookie in their debut in 66 years. The 76ers won that game 117-116 against the Boston Celtics and it’s clear that Edgecombe’s already a leader and a top rookie-of-the-year candidate. As it stands right now, Edgecombe holds the second best odds to win rookie of the year behind Cooper Flagg according to ESPN and Sports illustrated. However, with how well Edgecombe has looked to start the season he should totally be the favorite as of now.
If you compare Edgecombe’s start of the season to Flagg’s, Edgecombe has looked way more aggressive and is already showing flashes of his elite athleticism. In Flagg’s debut, he scored 10 points along with 10 rebounds on 4-13 shooting from the field. Although Flagg did not look terrible, Edgecombe’s already breaking rookie records and shows no signs of slowing down. Edgecombe will prove this year he is the best player in this class and will win rookie-of-the-year.
