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V.J. Edgecombe is modeling his game after Dwyane Wade, the greatest player in Miami Heat history. (Photo by David Buono\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\nV.J. Edgecombe is modeling his game after Dwyane Wade, the greatest player in Miami Heat history. (Photo by David Buono\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
We are less than three weeks away from the 2025 NBA Draft. <\/p>\n
The Miami Heat only own the No. 20 pick in the draft. However, one of this year\u2019s top prospects wasn\u2019t hesitant about who were the biggest influences on his game growing up. <\/p>\n
On an episode of the The Deep 3 podcast, 11 of the league\u2019s top prospects were interviewed. One of them\u2013Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe\u2013revealed that he emulated his game after Heat all-time great Dwyane Wade.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Dwyane Wade] and [LeBron James],\u201d Edgecombe said<\/a> regarding his biggest influences on his game. \u201cBut mainly Dwyane Wade. I knew I wasn\u2019t going to be 6-foot-9. I had a feeling I would be around 6-foot-4. So Wade for sure.<\/p>\n \u201cHim being a two way player\u2013a high level defensive player and offensive player\u2013that\u2019s something I pride myself in,\u201d he added about what he incorporated from Wade into his game. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Edgecombe, 19, is projected to be a top-5 pick in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n He\u2019s one of the best two-way prospects in this class. He averaged 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game on 43.6 percent shooting, including 34.0 percent from 3-point range and 78.2 percent from the free-throw line. In Big 12 play, he averaged 16.7 points on 45.4\/39.1\/81.7 shooting splits, earning the league\u2019s Rookie of the Year award while making an All-Big 12 team.<\/p>\n He recently drew<\/a> a comparison to Wade\u2013in addition to Grant Hill\u2013from ESPN\u2019s Jay Bilas.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the other player that you may consider (at the Sixers\u2019 No. 3 pick) is V.J. Edgecombe from Baylor,\u201d Bilas said, according<\/a> to Andrew Hughes of Sporting News. \u201cHe kind of reminds you a little bit of Dwyane Wade. I would be very surprised if he\u2019s off the board by No. 4, but he could certainly be. Wade was a small kid Marquette.\u201d<\/p>\n No, he won\u2019t be in range for the Heat unless they traded into the top-5, which is incredibly rare. But he is one prospect I\u2019d consider trading up for if he fell past a certain range\u2013in addition to a few other prospects<\/a> I talked about here.<\/p>\n A ton of this generation liken their game to stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Kevin Durant, among others. That doesn\u2019t mean they will ultimately be Hall of Famers, but it\u2019s objectively cool to hear Wade, a three-time champion, get some buzz from one of this year\u2019s top two-way prospects, one who will be a 90-95th percentile athlete as soon as he steps foot on an NBA court.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n To check out our other content, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter\/X\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n Subscribe to our YouTube channel\u00a0here<\/a>!<\/p>\n \t\t\t