Not expected to be part of the rotation entering the season, Justin Edwards scored a career-high 25 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While Sixers fans won’t look back fondly upon Philadelphia’s 118-102 loss to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, one guy who may remember it for a long time is rookie forward Justin Edwards. The Philadelphia native, who signed a two-way contract with the Sixers after going undrafted out of Kentucky, scored a career-high 25 points, hitting 4-of-9 from three and 9-of-16 from the field overall. It was a throwback to days of Process past, with a largely unknown youngster seizing some limelight in an otherwise inconsequential affair. Such a situation is a far cry from what we expected heading into this season, but we’ll take any ounce of joy from this team we can get at the moment.
Following the game, head coach Nick Nurse provided his thoughts on Edwards’ performance:
“Yeah, really good. I think he’s really really improving. Again, he gives a really good effort on the defensive end, he’s capable of guarding lots of positions defensively, and he’s got a good feel offensively. Again, the ball finds him because he’s moving to the right place at the right time. I thought he took a good number of threes that were there, I thought he drove when he was supposed to, I thought he got off of it when he was supposed to for the most part. So, yeah, really, really good bright spot there.”
Teammate Jeff Dowtin Jr. had a season-high 18 points of his own in the losing effort. A fellow two-way contract player, Dowtin has seen a lot of Edwards this season, both with the Sixers and the Delaware Blue Coats in G League action. Dowtin described what he saw from Justin against the Thunder:
“Just playing with confidence at the end of the day. Great opportunity, guys were down, so next man up mentality. Play aggressively, play basketball, at the end of the day, that’s really all it is. Knocking down your open shots, shoot when you’re open, drive to the paint, be aggressive, that’s what he did.”
Edwards definitely looked more poised than a player with fewer than 10 NBA games under his belt. After the game, he described getting more comfortable at the professional level:
“It just really just comes down to the reps, and the players, and the coaches believing in me, just telling me to be myself out there. So that’s a big part of that.”
For someone that underperformed relative to expectations at the college level, getting the reps at the G League level clearly has benefited Edwards:
“It helped a lot honestly. I feel like it helped build my confidence, that’s really the biggest thing for me. Coming here I didn’t really have a lot of confidence in myself. Playing down in the G League really helped me get my confidence back.”
Of course, it’s always nice to see a local kid doing well. Edwards had led Imhotep to back-to-back PIAA Class 5A state championships, and is now playing at the highest level in his hometown.
“It means a lot. Just being a child growing up here, watching games, it means a lot to put on for my family, my friends, and my hometown.”
Sixers fans probably want to see a lot more of Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey on the floor in the future. But if we also get Justin Edwards playing ball like we saw Wednesday night alongside them, no one will be complaining.