Zach Edey's oft-injured ankle the key to Memphis Grizzlies' latest rebuilding project

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Zach Edey stands out in any crowd at 7-foot-4 and spinning the scales to the 300-pound line.

Unfortunately for the Memphis Grizzlies, Edey spent much of last season in street clothes watching team huddles while sidelined by his left ankle.

Now the two-time AP College Player of the Year at Purdue and ninth pick overall in 2024 has to prove he's healthy after that ankle limited him to just 11 games last season. How much success the young Grizzlies have in their latest rebuilding effort depends heavily on Edey being available every night.

The soft-spoken Edey seems pleased with where he is early in the Grizzlies' training camp.

“I feel more athletic than I did last year already,” Edey said. “So now I’m ready to go after the season and make the most of this opportunity that we’ve got in front of us.”

Edey started 55 of the 66 games he played as a rookie and averaged 9.2 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. Edey got more comfortable and started becoming a double-double threat as that season went on. He finished as an All-Rookie team pick and was fifth in voting for Rookie of the Year.

The ankle has been an issue since his rookie season when he missed 12 games with a sprained left ankle.

Edey had surgery in June 2025 to repair and restabilize the ankle after spraining it again during offseason training. In that injury-shortened season, he averaged 13.6 points on 63% shooting while grabbing 11.1 rebounds. He also impacted games on the defensive end, adding a couple blocks a game.

A stress reaction in that ankle put Edey on the injured list in December, and he wound up having another surgery in March that sidelined him for the rest of the season. That last surgery tried to address ongoing discomfort and bone stress in that ankle.

“I’m really locked into my body. I’ve never spent this much time just on everything,” Edey said Monday.

Now the Grizzlies hope they finally see what having Edey available for a season means for a franchise that went 25-57 last season. Memphis traded F-C Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah in February, then sent guard Ja Morant to Portland in June to finish a housecleaning that shifted the focus to youth.

“He’s exactly where we hoped he would be at this point in time,” Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman said Monday of Edey's rehab. The center has been cleared for full-court activity and Memphis expects Edey will be ready when it opens the season Oct. 21 against Utah.

Edey certainly will fill what had been a big hole in the Grizzlies lineup without him. His size is the foundation of Memphis' youth movement with his presence in the paint an intimidating factor. He will be paired with rookie power forward Cam Boozer, the No. 3 overall pick out of Duke.

The duo will be a heavy focus for the Grizzlies' offense, and they worked out together before training camp started to begin building timing and chemistry.

“Being 7-4, he can really change the game offensively and defensively,” Boozer said. “He’s just a paint-patroller. I think it is going to be a lot of fun.”

The Grizzlies, who picked up Edey's rookie scale option for this season, appear to have hedged their bets on his ankle staying healthy. They added Isaiah Stewart, another big enforcer from Detroit, and signed free agent 7-footer Quinten Post from Golden State.

Stewart can't wait to play with Edey: “I'm happy I'm on the team with Zach because he's a big body.”

Expectations for how Memphis fares this season rest heavily on Edey and his ankle. Even if the Grizzlies' key players stay healthy, they may be a year or two from making a playoff push in the Western Conference.

“We don’t have any specific goals. We just want to win,” Edey said. “We want to show people that they’re just wrong about us.”

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