On Tuesday evening, the Philadelphia 76ers continued their winning ways with a narrow overtime victory over the Washington Wizards on the road. It wasn't a great performance overall for Philadelphia, which found itself trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter, but the team was able to do just enough to mount a comeback and get the win.
The 76ers now sit at 4-0 on the season, thanks in large part to the production of backcourt players Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe. Maxey carried the 76ers with 39 points on Tuesday evening, and recently, Stephen A. Smith took to ESPN's “First Take” with a bold declaration about the duo moving forward.
“By the end of next season, I believe there's a legitimate argument that we will be saying that the Philadelphia 76ers have the best backcourt in the entire National Basketball Association,” said Smith, via First Take on X, formerly Twitter.
Edgecombe has been far and away the best rookie so far this year, scoring 34 points in his NBA debut against the Boston Celtics and turning in more strong performances since then.
Maxey, meanwhile, has been playing the best basketball of his career up to this point in the season.
Is the 76ers' hot start legit?
The Philadelphia 76ers have had a relatively easy schedule to open up the season, but regardless, most fans didn't project them to be 4-0 at this point in the year.
However, Maxey and Edgecombe have both been putting the ball in the basket at an elite clip, carrying the team's offense despite Joel Embiid seeing his minutes severely limited at this early juncture of the season.
At this point, it's unclear if this is the version of Embiid that the 76ers are going to get all season, and if so, there will be a hard ceiling on how good they can be, regardless of how well Maxey and Edgecombe play.
However, if Philadelphia can get something consistent out of Embiid and Paul George when he returns from his own injury, they could be a potential sleeper team in the weak East.
