Grizzlies' Edey gets off to promising start in Summer League debut

Memphis Grizzlies center Zach Edey. Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Grizzlies' Zach Edey gets off to a promising start in Summer League debut

By Eric Smithling | Last updated Jul 8, 2024 11:45 PM ET

Grizzlies rookie center Zach Edey made his presence felt in his first NBA Summer League action.

The No. 9 overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft had 14 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks in a 97-95 loss to the Jazz on Monday night.

He set a screen for guard Scottie Pippen Jr. on his 14-foot pullup jumper 45 seconds into the game that didn't appear on the box score, but it showed what he can do to smaller guards on the offensive end.

Yeah buddy these Zach Edey screens are insane pic.twitter.com/QEsK9ZBGoP
— eric (@EricTweetsNBA) July 9, 2024

Edey, college basketball's National Player of the Year the past two seasons, impacted the defensive end moments later with a block on guard Keyonte George.

Zach Edey, rim protector: pic.twitter.com/qfbNo432m1
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 9, 2024

He scored his first Summer League points running a pick-and-roll with forward GG Jackson II, receiving the ball in the paint and taking his time to go up and get the easy two points.

Zach Edey gets on the board for his first Summer League points

Watch the 2x National Player of the Year at Purdue and Grizzlies' 9th overall pick on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/zfCFc8ppP1
— NBA (@NBA) July 9, 2024

Edey ran the floor well, including on this second-quarter sequence when he ran the floor after a Jazz miss and had the lane to himself for an effortless two-handed dunk.

RUN THE FLOOR BIG DAWG ️@_ggjackson x @zach_edey pic.twitter.com/8NID1Sh2Re
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) July 9, 2024

Edey showed off his elite rebounding by sending the game to overtime with a putback on a free throw purposefully missed by forward Jake LaRavia with 0.2 seconds remaining.

WHAT A TIP IN FROM ZACH EDEY pic.twitter.com/zu0QLZ32us
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) July 9, 2024

Over the past two seasons at Purdue, Edey averaged 23.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in 73 games. During the pre-draft process, questions were raised about how his game would translate to the NBA, and while one Summer League game isn't an answer, he looked much quicker than his massive 7-foot-3, 299-pound frame would suggest.

Things won't be as easy for Edey during the regular season, but his Summer League debut was a promising start.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

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