We are less than three weeks away from the 2025 NBA Draft.
The Miami Heat only own the No. 20 pick in the draft. However, one of this year’s top prospects wasn’t hesitant about who were the biggest influences on his game growing up.
On an episode of the The Deep 3 podcast, 11 of the league’s top prospects were interviewed. One of them–Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe–revealed that he emulated his game after Heat all-time great Dwyane Wade.
“[Dwyane Wade] and [LeBron James],” Edgecombe said regarding his biggest influences on his game. “But mainly Dwyane Wade. I knew I wasn’t going to be 6-foot-9. I had a feeling I would be around 6-foot-4. So Wade for sure.
“Him being a two way player–a high level defensive player and offensive player–that’s something I pride myself in,” he added about what he incorporated from Wade into his game.
Edgecombe, 19, is projected to be a top-5 pick in this year’s draft.
He’s 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’s Rookie of the Year award while making an All-Big 12 team.
He recently drew a comparison to Wade–in addition to Grant Hill–from ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
“I think the other player that you may consider (at the Sixers’ No. 3 pick) is V.J. Edgecombe from Baylor,” Bilas said, according to Andrew Hughes of Sporting News. “He kind of reminds you a little bit of Dwyane Wade. I would be very surprised if he’s off the board by No. 4, but he could certainly be. Wade was a small kid Marquette.”
No, he won’t be in range for the Heat unless they traded into the top-5, which is incredibly rare. But he is one prospect I’d consider trading up for if he fell past a certain range–in addition to a few other prospects I talked about here.
A ton of this generation liken their game to stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James or Kevin Durant, among others. That doesn’t mean they will ultimately be Hall of Famers, but it’s objectively cool to hear Wade, a three-time champion, get some buzz from one of this year’s top two-way prospects, one who will be a 90-95th percentile athlete as soon as he steps foot on an NBA court.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
- Google had two comical mishaps with Bam Adebayo’s last name
- 2025 NBA Draft Tracker: Who do Heat plan to work out?
- The Terry Rozier conundrum
- Top-5 prospect V.J. Edgecombe reveals Dwyane Wade influenced his game the most
- 2024-25 Miami Heat Player Review: Terry Rozier
- Hanifan: Trading Kel’el Ware for Kevin Durant would be incredibly irresponsible
- 2024-25 Miami Heat Player Review: Duncan Robinson
A player Mia could’ve had if they played their cards right but no pride has gotten them where they are today, a murky future with a below avg roster aka a team in purgatory not good enough to compete and not bad enough for top picks. Meanwhile fans are supposed to shut up and take it while these guys continue to be headed nowhere fast. But hey they are playin champions so there is that
Miami needs to take a break from chasing a ring with a clearly inferior team. There are several contracts that need to expire to free up money in order to bring in a ss. There are several young players that need/deserve another year of development and experience to determine if they are keepers or trade candidates. Right now Miami’s single focus should be on taking whatever relevant steps are needed in order to make the team more competitive in 2026. The team is in no position to go shopping while carrying so much dead weight.