![\"VJ](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/edgecombe-june25.jpg\")
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For the fifth straight year, a Baylor Bear was taken in the first round of the NBA draft<\/a> — and this one went higher than any Bear before him.<\/p>\n With the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe — making the Big 12 Freshman of the Year the highest draft pick in Baylor basketball history. The previous mark was held by Ekpe Udoh, who was selected at No. 6 by the Warriors in 2010.<\/p>\n Edgecombe is Baylor’s 14th pick in the last 13 NBA drafts — the most by any team in Texas — and the program’s 12th first-round pick, with nine of those coming since 2010 under head coach Scott Drew. Perhaps most impressively, Baylor is the only program in the country with top-19 picks in each of the last five NBA drafts.<\/p>\n To put his selection in another context, only eight Bears have ever been drafted higher in any sport. A rundown of the highest draft picks in Baylor Athletics history:<\/p>\n “My time here at Baylor, I\u2019m going to be honest — it\u2019s the best place,” Edgecombe said earlier this spring<\/a>. “I wouldn\u2019t trade this experience for anything in the world. Not for the national championship, nothing.<\/p>\n “You\u2019re gonna grow spiritually here. That\u2019s what drew me to Baylor — to grow as a man. Basketball\u2019s gonna stop, I promise you. Basketball\u2019s gonna stop, and how am I going to approach life after that? I just want to be the best man I can be. I just want to stay connected to God, and if you want to stay connected to God, come to Baylor, for sure.”<\/p>\n\n