The NBA Draft makes promises to no one. The players know this, as they're assigned to join whoever scoops them up with their pick in the order, but the teams making the picks aren't exempt from having to surrender to pure luck, either.
The Wizards gave themselves as good of a chance at an ideal draft position as Washington fans can ask for, winning just 18 games in 2024-25 in locking in the best odds at the top pick. Cooper Flagg has occupied much space in the fanbase's collective imagination as a connective offensive utility guy, defensive playmaker and fiery presence, as has Dylan Harper as an overqualified backup option.
Those two studs occupy the top two picks on just about every available mock draft, usually in that order, but who are the top guys for the team to look for if they miss out on gold and silver on May 12th's lottery order drawing?
The rest of the draft is wide open, and should the Wizards miss out on their ideal target, it's important for them and their fans to have an understanding of the other expected high-lottery candidates who hope to hear their name called soon after.
One prospect who many scouting departments seem to have on the high end of their lists is VJ Edgecombe, an athletic guard out of Baylor.
The 19-year-old is one of the best pound-for-pound leapers in his class, which he helped demonstrate with this memorable rim-rocker he punched before standing over his Gonzaga prey.
That explosivity, perhaps the best in his class, is hard to find in every 6'5 prospect, and his potential as a shooter elevating Edgecombe as a multi-level scoring weapon.
His jumper is smooth, and works from deep and in the midrange. The freshman averaged a 55.2% true shooting percentage on a healthy diet of catch-and-shoot bombs, releasing at a high volume.
His dribble is functional, popping on the occasional downhill drive in the open court, but he's yet to merge his pull-up desires with an off-the-bounce three-ball. He's credited as a proficient spot-up weapon, hitting on over 39% of his distance shots in Big-12 play, but shot in the low 30s on the few pull-up looks he fired on.
This lack of creativity held him up on layups, too, where his issues as a live-ball creator continued. He can move with great pace, but shares a similar problem to another great athlete like Jalen Green. Neither of them can flip the jets off once they turn them on, where deceleration often helps slashers trade finesse in for the pure athleticism that got them to the rim on the first place. Whenever he can slow down and regulate his rhythm a little closer, he's a lot tougher to stop on the move.
Even without Dylan Harper's blend of rim-touch and consistent pull-up jumper, Edgecombe has shown decent feel on both ends. He can read the game and make plays out of structure, and competes with enough natural intensity on defense to make himself a two-way presence, like a younger Anthony Edwards.
Now, he'd make for something of a funky fit in DC, a team that's already built up a growing guard room between Jordan Poole, Bub Carrington and AJ Johnson. Unlike the high-usage Poole or the crafty Carrington, Edgecombe wouldn't need the ball in his hands nearly as much to remain effective, much closer to your standard score-first 2-guard.
He could mesh with the team as yet another high-feel prospect with a high ceiling as a defender, though he lacks that versatility that the front office seems to prioritize. His best bet is to make it as a Victor Oladipo-variant, only with less emphasis on the defensive end and more focus as a spacer.
Edgecombe likely won't turn this Wizards core into a Play-In contender singlehandedly like some other prospects could, but the front office should discard fit in favor of drafting the best player available should they face that dilemma. The Baylor prospect can fill needs as a shooter, scorer, defender and top 5% athlete, desirable, hard-to-teach niches in today's NBA.
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