BOSTON (AP) — VJ Edgecombe’s eyes widened and his head lolled back against his locker when he was told that he’d just scored more points than any player in his NBA debut since Wilt Chamberlain first laced up his canvas high-tops.
“I worked every day, and all my life, for moments like this. This is my dream,” the Philadelphia 76ers rookie said after scoring 34 points in his first pro game, a 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
“I prayed for this. I always prayed to make it to the NBA and to stay in the NBA,” Edgecombe said. “Man, yeah, that was crazy. That surpassed my expectation, to be honest.”
A native of the Bahamas who was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year in his only season at Baylor, Edgecombe scored the third-most points for an NBA player in his first game. Chamberlain scored 43 points in his debut in 1959 for the Philadelphia Warriors and also had 28 rebounds that night against New York. Frank Selvy scored 35 points for the Milwaukee Hawks against Boston in 1954.
Allen Iverson held the Sixers' record with 30 points in his debut in 1996.
“That’s an amazing first-game performance. It really is,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said. “That’s a neat list to get on.”
Edgecombe’s 14 first-quarter points were also the most ever for a player’s first NBA quarter. That record had been set by LeBron James in 2003.
“It feels good to have my name mentioned with LeBron,” Edgecombe said. “I must say, it’s amazing. But hopefully (I'm) going to have a long career ahead of me. That’s what mattered most, man: longevity. Knowing LeBron has been there for 20-plus years. So I’m hoping I can do that one day."
Edgecombe went 13 of 26 from the field and 5 for 13 from 3-point range, adding seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. He scored 10 straight Sixers points in the first quarter and scored nine in the fourth, when Philadelphia erased a 13-point deficit to win its season opener.
Sixers forward Dominick Barlow said what he remembers from his debut, when he scored two points for San Antonio in a 43-point loss after missing the first eight games of the season, was “I played 10 minutes. I was tired as hell, went 1 for 3. Didn’t do nothing.”
“He was just so composed and so calm. You don’t see it,” said Barlow, who was a teammate of 2023 No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama with the Spurs. “That was special, to see how (Edgecombe) carries himself.”
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey also praised the rookie.
“He played really well. He was really comfortable. He was really confident. Extremely confident,” said Maxey, whose memories of his first game was stepping out of bounds with the ball on his first play.
And the All-Star guard made sure to rib Edgecombe for missing two free throws with 8.5 seconds left and the Sixers holding a one-point lead, shouting across the locker room at him: “Hey, (No.) 77. You definitely a little nervous at the free-throw line."
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) and guard VJ Edgecombe (77) pressure Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11), who was making a failed attempt at the game-winning basket, during the final seconds of the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe (77) drives to the basket against Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe (77) drives to the basket against Boston Celtics guard Anfernee Simons (4) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana lawmakers passed a new congressional map Friday designed to pick up a Republican seat while leaving the state with just one of its two majority-Black House districts represented by Democrats.
Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national redistricting battle fueled by President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect the Republicans’ slim House majority in the midterm elections.
Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more Black voters to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with losses. Some Republicans said a 5-1 map better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law.
In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision, several other Republican-controlled Southern states have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts. It’s the latest flare-up in a heated national redistricting battle heading into the November elections, spurred along by President Donald Trump.
So far, Republicans are winning the redistricting contest. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will win a narrowly divided U.S. House in November. So far, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from their redistricting efforts, while Democrats think they could gain six seats from new districts in California and Utah.
In Louisiana, Republicans currently hold four of six congressional seats on a court-ordered map drawn in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act by including a second district with a majority-Black population.
That map, however, was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court responded on April 30 by striking it down as an illegal racial gerrymander.
Landry postponed the state’s U.S. House primary, scheduled for May 16, until later this summer to allow time for Republican lawmakers to draw and pass a new map.
The proposed map redraws Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields' district, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It also adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.
More lawsuits were expected over the new map.
Democrats say the proposed map could still constitute a racial gerrymander because it packs Black voters into a single congressional district. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision criticized the Legislature's map for leaving a majority-Black district in place.
Several other Southern states also have acted on redistricting since the Supreme Court's decision.
Florida’s Legislature passed new congressional districts just hours after the ruling, completing a redrawing that was in the works in anticipation of the decision. It could yield Republicans as many as four additional seats in the midterm elections.
Tennessee adopted new U.S. House districts a week after the ruling, carving up a majority-Black district based in Memphis in a Republican attempt to win an additional seat.
In Alabama, Republicans are attempting to pick up another seat by redrawing two districts where Black residents compose a majority or close to it. Democrats hold both seats, and the proposal is mired in a court battle.
South Carolina’s Senate, meanwhile, decided against redistricting, despite pressure from Trump.
Mary Anne Mushatt, of the League of Women Voters and the Orleans Parish Democratic Committee, right, hugs Rep. Tammy T. Phelps, D-District 3, after a redistricting plan to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district, in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, was passed by the House in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A person opposed to the redistricting plan reacts as she leaves the Louisiana House chambers after the plan to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district, in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, was passed in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Louisiana Rep. Gerald Beaullieu, IV, R-Dist 48, speaks prior to a Louisiana House vote on a redistricting plan to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Louisiana Rep. Kyle M. Green, Jr., D-Dist 83, speaks prior to a Louisiana House vote on a redistricting plan to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Louisiana Reps. Adrian Fisher, D-Dist 16, left, Chad Michael Boyer, R-Dist 46, and C. Travis Johnson, D-Dist 21, right, recite the pledge of allegiance prior to a house vote on a redistricting plan to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
