The 76ers’ quiet X-factor needs to abandon ship before Paul George eats up his minutes

The Philadelphia 76ers have generally played well to start the season. With a 5-3 win-loss card at the time of writing, the team appears poised to enter the playoffs, and great things are still coming their way with Paul George returning from injury and both Joel Embiid and Jared McCain still trying to find their mojo.

A host of players have started well individually, but the same cannot be said for Justin Edwards, who has struggled to start his second season as a professional. After an impressive rookie season in which he proved to be a key player for the 76ers, Edwards has been marginal at best thus far.

Edwards has managed just 12.1 minutes per game so far, compared to 26.3 minutes last season. That’s a sharp drop in court time, but the reality is he hasn’t given the coaching staff any compelling reason to play him more despite George’s absence. He has struggled a lot on the field and his numbers reflect the proverbial sophomore slump.

Justin Edwards needs to step up if he wants to stay in the 76ers rotation when Paul George returns

After struggles in Summer League and during the preseason, Edwards has seemingly taken his slump into the regular season, draining just 37.9 percent of his shots. His lack of shot creation and unreliable shooting have kept him from getting as many minutes as expected, and unless he does something drastic to turn things around, he’s certainly poised to fall out of favor in the rotation.

That’s even more the case, especially as George gets closer to his return. The 76ers have that reportedly taken the next step in ushering in his comeback, and it will certainly be interesting to see how the nine-time All-Star’s return will impact the team, especially when it comes to the rotation.

One thing’s for sure, though: If Edwards still can’t make the most of his already scarce minutes, there’s simply no way he can even sniff the floor when George returns and as long as Kelly Oubre Jr. stays healthy.

However, Edwards needs to do more than just find his opportunity. He should be an impactful defender while also helping in the areas that don’t show up in the stats, especially since the 76ers haven’t exactly shown much defensive acuity early on.

Hopefully the second year can get out of his slump quickly. After all, he showed far too much promise in his freshman campaign to simply be relegated to third stringer.