VJ Edgecombe has yet to play a single minute of NBA basketball, and yet the Philadelphia 76ers rookie has somehow already found himself a Superman-style one arch-rival.
Sounds like something ripped straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster? Well, as it turns out, it's true, as, in an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, Edgecombe broke down how one particularly unusual interaction with Benedict Mathurin at Euro Camp has led to a rivalry between the two guards.
“I was at Euro Camp. I won the MVP, or what's not. After all that, Benedict Mathurin gonna come to me talking about, when you get to the league, I'm gonna bust you a**,” Edgecombe told his 76ers teammate.
“I'm telling you, he ain't even say what's up. He's like, yeah, I'm gonna bust you a**. I'm like, d**n, where the love at?”
Ironically enough, Edgecombe was actually compared to Mathurin multiple times during the pre-draft process, with both players coming into the NBA as 6-foot-5 guards with electrifying athleticism but a developmental outside game from a shooting perspective. While Mathurin has remained a work in progress as a shooter in his third NBA season, making just 34.2 percent of his 3.9 attempts per game, he did swing a few playoff games for the Indiana Pacers earlier this year, even if it didn't stop the OKC Thunder's march to the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Fortunately for Edgecombe, if Mathurin does end up coming at him this fall, the rookie might actually have an edge on the former No. 6 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, as the Arizona product can really only score at the NBA level, recording a negative DBPM in all three of his professional seasons so far. Edgecombe, by contrast, is considered an NBA-ready defender, with a willingness to really get in the weeds and do what he needs to do on both ends of the court. If the duo end up facing each other this season, the 76ers guard might just come out on top.
"When you get to the league, ima bust ya ass."
— Bennedict Mathurin to VJ Edgecombe 🤣😭
(via @PodcastPShow)
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 28, 2025