Club 520 Podcast - Club 520 - VJ Edgecombe on NBA Draft, Tyrese Maxey, 76ers, Rising Stars MVP

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Jeff Teague, DJ Wells, and B Hen are joined at NBA All-Star Weekend by rookie VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers. VJ talks about hooping at Baylor, working out for just the Sixers during the pre-draft process, sharing a backcourt with Tyrese Maxey, playing alongside Joel Embiid, and participating in All-Star Weekend in his rookie season with the Rising Stars game.All lines provided by ‪Hard Rock Bet#VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, you can decide who takes home the 26 IHard Podcast Awards Podcast of the year by voting at IHeartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHeartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app.

Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at Audible.com. The volume. Shout to Boost Mobile, official sponsor of Club 520, and they back again to let y'all know that you don't have to overpay for great wireless service. Unlock the new savings account with $25 for the unlimited wireless. It's a permanent price with no contracts or no price hikes.

Listen, and you can keep your phone and your own phone number that you had previously and save up to $600 a year, by switching over to Boost Mobile. Stop overpaying and pay a fair price at BoostMobil.com. Based on average annual single-line payment of AT&T, Verizon, NTMobile customers, compared to 12 months when the BoostMobil unlimited plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit BoostMobil.com. All right, man, we back.

All-Star Weekend at L.A. Club 520. Special, special guest, man. Shout to Adidas holding us down. We've been going crazy all weekend. And we got a young killer in the builder, man. But first thing is first. a shout out to the gang.

Boost Mobile, you know the vibes. Get you of your love on that new iPhone 17. They'll pull up to your crib and handle the rest. Shout to Hard Rock Bet. Official sponsor of Club 520 and 520 in the morning. Be here. Get the parlay. Now, VJ, I know you, you know what I'm saying?

Rick in the league. Hey, you been getting them parlay. Hey, man, people are telling you then they gambling all you, man. You selling their dreams out, man. What's going on? Yeah, I ain't going to lie. It's been rough. It's been rough.

Yeah, he's going to lie to you. I had probably had like five points on game. It's time of it. They tell me they're going to kill me, bro. Damn. There you're going to lie. You sold on me, but I don't want to... My bad, buddy.

No, no, no, bro. You're just doing your job. I'm trying, but... You're doing your job. That's okay. I'm trying to. I had the book for that 15. My bad.

What's been so funny is the more we talk to athletes. Like, yeah, people are walking up. Y'all got to quit walking up on people. I don't know what's wrong with y'all. But y' y'all got to chill out, man. Let these people work how they're supposed to work, man. shout out of the hard rock bet. Last of certain, not least,

man, shout out to Stock X, Adidas family. My dog, Bishop B. Hen out the Pearleys. How you what? Cool and nasty. I'm excited for this one. Yeah, man. One of the guys talking about on the show. Yeah.

A lot of love on the show, man. Happy here with us, man. To my right, my dog, young Nacho, young Tig. How you what? Chilling, bro. Like you said, we're excited for this episode. We are all big fans. We knew.

We knew. I ain't going to say we knew. But Behan. Be him. He said, Philly. Philly should pick him. Yeah, bro. I was really hot.

all your athleticism and threw the roof. I didn't know you could shoot a little bit. I'm going to lie. I ain't about to act like I knew everything. But when I seen you had a little clipy on you, I said, yeah, he'd have won. Yeah, he'd have won.

That was a great pickup. Shout to Deid's family, man. Young, rookie killer going crazy right now for the Philadelphia 76. It's VJ. I'm called Big Dog. We appreciate you sliding, man. Appreciate your having me, man. My love, love.

Listen, Bahamas, you got one of Indies. Find us on the squad. E.J., man, he talked about your early. He said, He's going to be something early on. And it's so, man, how's it rookie... Excuse me, how's your rookie season going so far for you, man? It's going to smooth.

I'm going to be honest. A lot of ups and now. You know, a whole lot of stuff in this NBA that I'm just starting to finally see. But overall, it's been straight. I mean, my dad Reese, Joe, say, they didn't expect us to be how it is right now. So we're going to keep building, though.

Yeah. Now, listen, a lot of people. early on, they question that pick, you know what I'm saying? They were just like, why did the sixth go out of that pick? And then the first game, my boy came out going to come on the show. What's that feeling like first NBA game, you got to it? Yeah, I ain't going to lie. I'm being honest.

I was like, I just got to get them up. Yeah. But I'm being honest, because, I mean, I won't be nervous. I'm already playing in TD Garden. Yeah. You know, Boston fans, a little crazy, too. So I enjoyed it. I ain't going to lie.

I enjoyed it. It was hoops. That was a good bump. That was a good bump. Hey, man, there's no better way to show up the critics. Your first game, you come out getting to it. But we got to go back to the high school days, man. You was up, you know what I'm saying, hooping to New York?

What was that like, man? Obviously, start up in Florida, then you get to New York. What was that atmosphere like? Because basketball is like the MET. Excuse me, New York is like the mecca basketball, as they say. Killing in that situation, what was that like? I'll be honest. It was, it was smooth.

At first, at first, I was a little nervous, though. Because I'm like, man, I don't know nobody up here. Like, I just got thug it out. So that's all I ain't gonna lie. I was just thugging it out for real. It just hoops at the end of the day. I try not do everything that, you know what I'm saying? So I was just a bit of hooping, bro, and I said I started to get offers and stuff.

And I was like, yeah, ain't much kids in this class who mess with me. Yeah, you got offers your last year. Junior, my junior year. My junior is when I got my first offer. Okay. And I was like, from then, I was like, I'm just a hoop. What made you pick Baylor? Yeah, ain't a lot.

I like Coach Drew. Okay. That's my dog. He had a good foundation over there. He just won. And he produced guards, too. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, you know, Kiante was there.

Shotta, George. Kobe was there. So I was like, man, I'm going to go there. I'm going to be able to play. You know, he takes pride in defense. You know, I like the guard. So I was like, man, I'm just going to go out. What was the biggest difference playing in high school

and in transitioning? It's a college. Athleticism. Obviously, I'm athletic, but you know, you got other kids athletic as hell too. In high school, I was able to just, you know, run and jump, do all I get to the room easy. No, we saw the highlights. No, we saw. You did whatever here you feel like.

And then college, you know, then you could sit in the paint too. So, yeah, it was a little difficult at first, man. At the beginning of year, I ain't going to lie to I thought I was going to go anywhere. I thought I had to stay another year. Ooh. I ain't going to lie to you. And then conference came around. That's when I started hooping through.

for real, and then, yeah, from there, now, I'm in Philly, so it's cool. Now, we were talking about that. He always says in summertime, that's that big difference when you get to college, you're like, oh, everybody kind of

on this level like me. You'd have that type of a transition, and then, you know what I'm saying, you ducking out here on coach's kids. Man, he baptized that coach kid. What was that, Mark, New Kid? Yeah. I don't know.

Why you did that boy like that? Yeah, we were down like 40. I know, y'all was getting here. You guys. We used to get out. Exactly. I had four points at game, bro. What?

I swear to go. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. That's the point of doing. Ain't nobody to know it. I don't even know why I say that. It was crazy. I didn't know the show.

I was like, hey, that's never here for? It didn't know. But I ran so hard to dunk that ball. Why? I would. I sprinted fast as though. I'm like, bro, I got to score again. Because I know I was coming out of the game anyway.

I got to score. So I'm got to go up. No, when that moment happens, can you get hype? even though the score is a little wicked, but, like, damn, I did something crazy. I got to tap in anyway. And I thought about it, but now I remember the score. I was like, yeah, I ain't going to say no.

Now, that I'm about 40 of you out of pocket. Yeah. Yeah, you definitely. I was about that. I just, like, kind of stepped over and just kept keeping pushing. So, yeah. How crazy was your phone going after that, though? Like, when you got back?

Man, it was, you know, it was love and hate. Yeah, for sure. People were telling you, you suck. You only got four. You sell them apart later. And then you got. How you've been dealing with that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then you got people telling you, yo, that's crazy, y'all. You just dunk on some kid, coach his son, da-da-da-all. Yeah, that's your-curt your ass out the way. Thanks. You talk about the conference play, especially with Baylor, having a re-success. What was that like for you?

Obviously, that was your run to everybody tap into who you really really are. Man, I know in college, like, everyone's telling me, like, it really matters in conference. Yes, the fact. You know, non-conference. You're going to play the trash teams. You go, depends on your same. schedule. You might have some good, you have had some good bump.

But like you said, conference play, I'm in the 12, too. So you got Kansas. Yeah. Yeah. Arizona there now. So you got Houston, you know, a bunch of top teams. So I was like, this one would make my name. So I just went there on whoop. Drew, Drew let me hoop. And yeah, I started. I was, at some point, I was averaging like 25. I was like, yeah, I'm going to the league. I ain't going to lie. I ain't coming back. Then you said, you said, you started off going to say, all right, I'm going to do my little cup of coffee and move on. We said, first couple of game was like, ah, I'm happy to think.

Yeah, bro. It was shaky. I was like, you know, you know the people that be doing all the little rankings and stuff. Yeah. You know, you pay attention to that, man. I'm in, like, freshman year, they got me like honorable mentions. I'm not even in the top 10.

I'm like, yeah. It's quiet. I'm like, it's quiet. I'm like, it's quiet. I'm like, I'm going to have to run it back. But then comforts came around. That's why I was just, I just are hooping. So, yeah.

No, that's what's up. Now, what's that moment like after the season's over? you declare about to be a pro. And then also playing with the professionals and with the national team, what's that experience like? Nah, the national team was great, bro. It's so crazy, I was before college. Yeah, yeah.

So it's so crazy. Like, I had people telling me don't even play college hoops because of the national team. They was like, yo, you run there and do your thing? I'm like, man, I just want to hoop, bro. I don't care about all the other stuff. I just want to go hoop.

I'll do the same thing in college. So it was smooth, though, because I was playing with pros, too. with DA, buddy, EG. Like, I'm on there with some nigg, so, damn, my bad. No, you good. Oh, you, you must know. Yeah, my dad, yeah.

We, we're not. Go crazy, you know. Yeah, we're going to go into show. It's not ESPN, bro. It's all right. It was all right. You being down by 40, duck. You were okay.

You're 520. But yeah. Well, what are you there? But yeah, man, I was like there some of a dickens. So, yeah, I was just hooping at that point. Yeah. But I was playing against pros. Yeah.

They Spain. Man, they, they whooped us in Spain, too. So. Oh, that was crazy. I thought I was going to Olympics, bro. And then we played them. And I was like, yeah, it's over. Yeah, y'all was growing to get qualified for them.

Yeah, I'm saying. We just won, like, three, four games straight. Like, yeah, we're going to make it to the Olympics. Yeah. Then we probably got smoking in Olympics. But, hey, at least we there. It's a fucking right. We just got to make it for a lot.

You just got to make it for a real, but, yeah. Overall, man, that was smooth, though. I ain't gonna lie. That helped me a lot. Yeah, yeah, y'all was hooping. And you was going crazy as well. Today show is presented by our sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sportsbook.

And with Hard Rock Bet, there's always something to bet on. Hoops, hockey, and much more every single night. Plus, the same game parlay, the live betting, and the player prop options, man, tap in. You know you're used to it. Might as well tap in with Hard Rock Bet. And did you know, Harrod Bet is the official betting partner of the Miami Heat in Orlando Magic.

That mean ain't no ball. And if you haven't signed up a hard rock bet, man, there's no better time than now. Tap in. New sign-ups can get you up to 10 bets with a $50 max. That's right. You could have won $100 off your bed and make that extra $200.

Why not tap in? The hard rock bet app is the only legal sports book in Florida. But if you're not in Florida, it's cool. If you're in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, and Michigan. And if we ain't there yet, don't trip, we'll pull up soon. Plus, Hard Rock Bed has new bet offers daily. Yeah.

So wherever you're listening, just open up the app, man. You got all week to bet. Download the Hard Rock Bed app and make your first deposit. Offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in Florida, offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC and all of the states, must be 21 and over physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply.

Concerned about gambling and Florida, call 1-833 playwise. In Indiana, if you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, please call 1-800-9 with it. In Ohio, call 1-800-mile reset. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia. EG, man. We ain't even know EG was from there, man.

grew up with us. He grew up in our city, bro. Yeah, Indiana. EG. From that, we started playing for the Bahamas. He's like, what the hell? You used to get your hair cut over there.

That's your hair cut off college. When you get over there? Shout out EG, man. He didn't have a special. Obviously, would you be a high pick? How was your draft process? Bro. I was out here most of the time.

Okay. You know, they everyone come to L.A. to do their pre-draft and stuff. So I'm out here. working with Olin. And then I went, when I started doing my, I went to the combine. It was solid, you know, all my measurements. They was like, oh, he's not as tall as they say he are.

Swingspan not long. All the type of different stuff coming around. And then I went to workout. I only workout, I'll be honest, I only work out for one team. Damn. Wow. I took my chance. I ain't going to want that.

And I was Philly. I only worked out for Philly. I went there. Damn. I ain't going to lie shot by like four air balls. I was nervous as hell. But then after all, I was like, man, they draft me or not. It's whatever at this point.

I couldn't, I wasn't even a triad trying to trip about it. Damn. But, yeah, bro, I ain't going on like that. I'd never been so nervous, bro. Because you got the owners. Everybody. You got everybody on the baseline, on the sideline, just watching you or want to no workout. Only you in there with the coaches.

Is that why you only worked out for one team because you were so nervous? No, no, no, no. You wanted to go to Philly. Yeah. Yeah, I ain't going to lie to. Great word. They got third pick. Like me and Max can,

me and Max can do some damage. For sure, I was like, let me take my chance. Yeah. You're a reason why my fuck had to leave too. You came in,

you came and shook some shit up. I'm saying, that's my boy. That's my great rookie year. I said, yeah, that's my boy right there. Yeah, BJ. Nah,

nah, no, no, you came in here, and rode some people tonight. And what's funny is, you know what I said? We always talk about the season. My guy, Quinn Grimes.

We were just like, hey, QJ get paid. Okay, then we see you first. Hey, you know. You ain't even got to speak. Look at it. This is your teammate. You ain't got to speak on this, bro. And we still love.

But they, yeah, gee, you think, no. We talked about Quinn Grimes on the show. But me personally, I said, I don't give a damn. VJ is the guy. Quinn Grimes is 29 other teams. You can go to, too. Our guy is V. We love both y'all.

It's tough, but it was funny, because we talked about the death of that team early on and, like, as it showed throughout the season, like, y'all's success, I have so many good players in the wing. It's just like, no matter who's in the line, or no matter who's in the game, y'all all get to it.

You come out killing Tyris Maxey, takes this game to the next level. Y'all got a squad, man. I know that practice move is different. Yeah. I ain't, I ain't a lot. Niggum's about throwing hands in there. I practice.

That's good for the sport, bro. Yeah, that's what I'm saying? I hope us a lot, though. Yeah. Practice was moved. Me and Reese played once. That's the first time, I'm a real.

I really lose once for real. Damn. That nigga can, that nigga can hoop, man. He can't. Oh, he cold. I didn't even know he was that fast,

bro. Yeah. And he can shoot. Oh, tough, man. He's awesome. I'm sorry for eight reasons. Tari's making for one number one.

How do you feel about Joel? How'd that look? Yo, that's my nigga, dog. Shout to Joel. Yeah. He cool as hell, bro. He just,

he just chill. Yeah. Chill being his own little. world he yeah i swear i never seen someone like really that good ain't gonna lie he good bro when i i sit there and just watch him yeah bro awesome you're gonna just be going to ad people bro yeah and he seems like he do it in slow motion bro man i'm telling i tell i'm like i told him i was like bro if i was about seven-foot i probably would have been able to guard him but it's like he he'd be drawing thousand all type of different stuff going on yeah all right you can do

What's up, bro? I'm here. Right in the building. Again, what's happening? Good, go, good. I got grinding, too, pocket. Yeah. We're trying to be like you, bro.

Not on. What up, freaky, right? Yeah, good, good, go, go, go, good. Yeah, yeah, man, have you ever played on T before? Oh, no. No, he's too young. We try to match a bunch of them. That's his first year in the league, right?

He's been gone since. Yeah, you've been gone since. How long? Long time. It's 21. 21. Damn, man. Wait, wait, Vijay, how are you?

20. Are we same age? Yeah. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Right. We lined up. Yeah, but I got way to take.

Now I wanted to see what he was to say. I wanted to see what he was to say. I got game to 10, right? Yeah. I got eight. He got zero. My position. One needs two buckets.

So you think you get two buckets? Hell yeah. All right. Live flow. Live five. I'm mad at you, big, man.

Who you got, me, Joe? Come on, bro. Yo, y'all, stop playing with you,

bro. What you make fun, bro? I don't trust me. I got, I got something shot. Oh, I got,

I got Jeff. I got tea. I got tea. I got tea. Like work. How about me and you? Hmm. Damn, why you?

He said that was a good. What I do? Yo, Vij, I got nine. You got zero. Mm-hmm. My ball. I got to get one stop. I only got to get one stop.

Yeah. Because you're not getting in the bat. Yeah, you're right. I'm going to let you shoot. I'm like, yo, shoot, shoot, you get a shoot. Oh. That's how you feel? Yeah.

And I feel like... Me and I have to play, right? I'm a kid, but I feel like... I feel like, um, my free throw better than you. Damn. Why don't get a check in me? What I do? I got to lose, though.

I got trust myself. My shit, my shit. Green, man. Look at my flow, like. All you are fried, man. What's it like being in that sixth locker room where you got vets who have accomplished so much in eBay? You talk about Joel.

You got PG, paste your legend. Across the board. some of people have accomplished though, like what's that feeling like coming in and getting that toolish, why they obviously giving y'all to say respect and letting y'all rock out as well. Yeah, they'll be dropping gyms all the time, bro.

It's teaching me off the court, off the course stuff, on the court stuff. I've been, I've been like working with P too, like with, like, ball handling and all that. Yeah, you got hands on. It's trying to get in that bag. Yeah. It's trying to activate a different part of my game, bro.

I mean, I know, like, I mean, I'm able to just run bar niggots sometimes, but like, you know, just try to be able to break down and shit. So yeah, bro. So you feel like that's one of the parts of your game that you're missing? Is that a handle? Yeah, I say, I don't say missing, but I feel like it'll just make it a lot more easier for me.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? If I'm able to just know I want to get to my spot, just be able to break down. Now, what was that hardest transition from college to the pros? The pace, bro. Yeah. The league is fast. I ain't a lot of it's fast.

That's more spacing, too. Quick question. Who's your favorite teammate? My favorite teammate? That's crazy. I don't know favorite team.

Yeah, there it is. They're all my dogs. That's funny. That's funny that you said to page. You know what they are? Dumbies shit. That shit, like when you play my career plus 50% in team chemistry.

That's good answer. That's good answer. Fuck that. Yeah, bro. That's what you're talking about Pace because you play so up and down. Just playing back all this for you, but you say it's still an adjustment. Yeah, bro.

I wasn't expecting that much spacing. That's what helped me the first game, too. I ain't going to long because, like, Joel was on the floor, too. So, you know, they're all going to work about Joel, so I'm able to get to the cup. They leave me open and I was knocking down shots. What's a goal for you this year? Like championship, rookie over here?

Yeah, what you changed? All that. All that. All that? All that? All that? Well, I only got two. One, no.

You can get all. There's a hard. You don't think if I'm able to win a rookie year, what if we win the championship, too? That would be good. You feel me? You feel me? You feel me?

I know that. You have a fire. You feel me? You know, ball. You know, I'm not fire. You're going to have a group. Now, I know, obviously, just half under the rookie season, but what was the moment he was like,

you were a starstroke? You'd be like, all right, I got to go guard this person. Like, somebody looked up to, was a fan of it. Like, all right, now I got to go compete against him. Bro, it was a stretch. I went, I went to, um, Curry sat out. I was, I ain't know. I was lucky.

You know, even though you want to compete, I was like, all right, that's, man, ain't too bad. I had to guard Luca, had to garchet. Damn. Deep Buck. Like, I'm going to Gary Brunson. I got a guard all in, bro. So that's like, that's my welcome.

That's my welcome to NBA. I ain't going to lie because, like, it's like right out, right out of the gate. What's the tough? It's covered so far. Yeah. Tough is? Yeah. I ain't gonna lie to you, John Morant, bro.

Mm-hmm. I ain't gonna lie to, he had 40. Ooh. John Moran. Hey, you 40? I'm worried about it. I got 40 put on my head a couple of times, bro. He had 40, bro.

I ain't gonna lot. There was nothing you could do. Take a quick question. How many, how many, carrie dropped on your head? Carrey? He's messy, bro. Carrey, he had 40 on me before. Bam.

A lot of people got, like 40 on your head. No, not a lot. No, for you, not just, anybody. Were you more like defense type of play or like offense? Offense. Offense. I was never known for defense. Yeah.

Yeah. Fuck that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because nobody gets a fuck about defense, bro. Because of the coach?

He's the high school coach. He cares about defense now. I care about defense. Oh, shit. Okay. So, right, man. Oh, you are fine, man. Listen, man, more to cover of VJ and Ray.

Shout to Adidas family. We appreciate y'all. We're going to tap in again. VJ. Keep killing, bro. we're going to get you back again, man. Keep getting these buckets. Shout to Boost Mobile. You know the vibes.

We family. We tapped in. Also, shout out to Hard Rock Beck. Please quit walking up on players about your parlays. That ain't got nothing to do with them. Mejah, I told him I leave him alone. He just turned to his job as best he can. He ain't trying to be stressed out about that, man. And shout out to the good people.

Oprah Adidas. We family. We tapped in. All-Star weekend. Stay tuned, Club 520. They got J.R. working today. We've been a five of you. The volume.

And the winner of the IHeart Podcast Award is, You can decide who takes home the 26 IHard Podcast Awards Podcast Awards, podcast of the year by voting at IHartPodcastawards.com now through February 22nd. See all the nominees and place your vote at IHartPodcastawards.com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible.

There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. This is an IHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.