ONE OF the most athletic prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft class, VJ Edgecombe uses this to his advantage and looms as one of the top selections when the night of nights takes place in June.

The Baylor Bears guard impressed with his high flying ways throughout the 2024/25 NCAA season, and was one of the best players below six-foot-five in the country when it came to finishing at the rim. He also uses his freakish athleticism to impact the game on both ends of the floor, which is one of the most exciting factors of his potential as a prospect.

For the Bears, Edgecombe averaged 15 points. 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per game on 43.6 per cent shooting from the field, and in his final outing in the NCAA, posted 16 points and six boards in the loss to the Duke Blue Devils in a solid way to cap off his time in the collegiate system.

With that in mind, Rookie Me Central will run through some of the clearest comparisons to already established NBA talents, with Edgecombe’s first match one of the greatest players of the past 20 years and potentially of all time.

Russell Westbrook – Denver Nuggets

Westbrook has proven himself as one of the most watchable players the NBA has ever seen, and although polarizing in the later stages of his career, his impact throughout his time at the top level is undeniable. He broke onto the scene with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he won the league MVP award after averaging a triple-double in emphatic fashion. Since then, Westbrook has played with a plethora of teams and continues to play a role for the Nuggets. The similarities between these two players is clear when it comes to explosive athleticism, with both players playing with an insane amount of bounce and producing plenty of highlights in the process, and if Edgecombe can develop as well as Westbrook, it bodes well for his career in the NBA.

Dwyane Wade – Miami Heat

Another massive comparison for Edgecombe to live up to, Wade is known as one of the best shooting guards the NBA has ever seen, and presented similar traits in his draft year. Wade was a bouncy backcourt player who was relentless in his attack on the rim, and won three NBA championships as well as Finals MVP alongside being named an All-Star 13 times. Both players brought explosive athleticism to the table despite not being the tallest players, had an innate ability to use that athleticism to good effect on both ends of the floor. Wade finished his career as one of the most iconic players of the 21st century, so Edgecombe will be hoping to do something similar.

Victor Oladipo – Indiana Pacers

Although this may seem not the most flattering comparison to Edgecombe purely due to the standing of the two players above, Oladipo was once considered one of the best players in the NBA at his peak. Winning the Most Improved Player Award with the Pacers, he stormed onto the scene as a number-one scoring option and was an All-Star as well. Unfortunately, injuries wrecked the final years of his career, but Oladipo’s peak was still certainly tremendous. Yet another explosive guard who was extraordinarily bouncy (as demonstrated by his performance in the NBA Dunk Contest), Oladipo was a wonderful two-way player at his peak, making it such a shame his career was cut short. However, his best was undeniable, and a lot of his game is visible in how Edgecombe plays now.