After a disastrous season where Joel Embiid only played a handful of games before needing knee surgery, Philadelphia’s reward was getting the third pick in Wednesday night’s NBA draft, which they used to select Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe.

Edgecombe, who was part of the Bahamian national team last summer alongside multiple current NBA players, is an explosive 19-year-old guard who could be a long term complement to All-Star Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia’s backcourt.

The 76ers’ pick nearly went to the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder as part of the Al Horford-Danny Green swap five years ago, but it had a top-6 protection, letting the Sixers retain it.

Meanwhile, Ace Bailey — projected for most of the season as the third pick — ended up falling to the Utah Jazz at No. 5. The Rutgers star had a chaotic pre-draft process that included canceling a meeting with the Sixers.

Bailey’s teammate at Rutgers, Dylan Harper, went to the San Antonio Spurs with the No. 2 pick while Cooper Flagg was drafted No. 1 overall to the Mavericks, as expected.

At No. 4 the Charlotte selected Kon Knueppel out of Duke, a sweet-shooting guard who should help a Hornets team that struggled to hit catch-and-shoot 3s. The Wizards selected Tre Johnson, who led all Division I freshmen with 19.9 points per game last year at Texas, with the No. 6 pick.

The Pelicans selected Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma) at 7, the Brooklyn Nets took 6-foot-8 guard Egor Demin out of BYU at 8 and the Raptors selected forward Collin Murray-Boyles at 9.

The Phoenix Suns, who acquired the No. 10 pick from the Rockets last week as part of the Kevin Durant trade, selected Duke center Khaman Maluach at the same time as they acquired center Mark Williams from the Hornets.

The Trail Blazers traded the No. 11 pick to the Memphis Grizzlies, who selected Cedric Coward.

After the Bulls selected French forward Noa Essengue, the Atlanta Hawks swung a trade sending the No. 13 pick to the Pelicans for the No. 23 pick and an unprotected 2026 first, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania. The pick in 2026 will be the most favorable between New Orleans and Milwaukee’s picks.

With the No. 13 pick, the Pelicans selected center Derik Queen out of Maryland, who hit the only game-winning buzzer beater in the 2025 NCAA tournament.

To round out the lottery, the Spurs picked forward Carter Bryant out of Arizona to pair alongside Harper.