March 20, 2026, 7:03 a.m. ET

The Philadelphia 76ers were able to earn a much-needed 139-118 win over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night to even their 3-game road trip at 1-1. The Sixers began the trip with a blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets, but had a professional response over the lowly Kings on Thursday.

The Sixers received strong outings from everybody, but rookie VJ Edgecombe really made his presence felt at Golden 1 Center. He scored a career-high 38 points on 16-for-27 shooting along with a career-high 11 assists in 39 minutes. He was phenomenal all night long as the Kings had no answer for him and the Sixers continued to feed him the ball and get him going.

“Well, he obviously started really fast, right? So that was right off the bat,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters after the win. “He came out, kind of getting to his spots and bolting up, and he seemed really confident of just continuing to do that all night.”

To Nurse’s point, Edgecombe was on a different level on Thursday. He has always been a confident player, but when he is able to put it all together like he did in Sacramento, then it makes a real difference for everybody out on the floor. His early offense forced the Kings to make an adjustment and he was then able to get into the paint, draw defenders, and kick out to open shooters which led to his big night passing the ball as well.

Another big aspect of Edgecombe’s performance was his ability to read the blitzes the Kings sent his way in the second half. That continued progression helped open the floor and he made the correct decisions to either get into the paint or make plays with his passing.

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“He did a really good job,” Nurse added. “The screen and rolls even, even when they got to the blitzing in the second half, he was making the right plays. He rejected a few and got downhill and made some good pass outs, etc. He stepped into some 3s, but he was reading the offense, which is why he ends up with 11 assists.”

Edgecombe and the Sixers will look to finish the trip on a high note when they take on the Utah Jazz on Saturday.