MikeCheck: From doubted to undeniable, Edey and Wells snag 1st-Team NBA All-Rookie spots
Michael WallaceMEMPHIS – Zach Edey keeps receipts.
Apparently, they run as long as his 7-foot-4 inch, 300-pound frame and have been building up despite his growing accomplishments on the basketball court.
There were skeptics who questioned if Edey’s impact as a two-time national college player of the year out of Purdue was as dominant as some of the legendary stars with similar accolades.
There were critics adamant that Edey lacked the versatility and agility to adapt to the modern NBA and wouldn’t be drafted in the first round, let alone chosen in the lottery at ninth overall.
There were even some loudly wondering why Edey was in the playing rotation at times throughout his first season on the Grizzlies’ front line.
So as Edey embraced his spot on the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team announced Tuesday, there was a response stored up for the critical chirping and buzzing he consumed along the way.
“There were a lot of people that get paid a lot of money that said a lot of things about me, about the type of player I was and future I was going to have,” Edey pointed out amid his rookie season recognition. “This obviously isn’t the end of the journey, but it’s step one to showing them that a lot of people kind of overthought some things.”
With a strong finish to the season as the Grizzlies starting center, Edey solidified a spot on the All-Rookie First Team alongside Memphis teammate Jaylen Wells, Spurs guard Stephon Castle, Hawks swingman Zaccharie Risacher and Wizards forward Alex Sarr.
It’s the second time Memphis placed two players on the All-Rookie First Team since 2019, when point guard Ja Morant and forward Brandon Clarke earned that distinction. But Edey and Wells accomplishing that feat is more remarkable, considering the doubts and distance they faced.
The combination of Edey’s massive size and the NBA’s general shift in playing style away from traditional low-post dominant centers made him the most polarizing pick in last year’s draft.
The Grizzlies and Edey faced legitimate questions as to how effective he would be at this level. After initial struggles and an inconsistent role through the first half of the season, Edey ranked among the NBA’s leading rebounders over the final month. He nearly averaged a double-double during that stretch and finished the season as the Grizzlies’ full-time starting center.
Edey’s production spiked in March after Tuomas Iisalo took over as coach and prioritized a high pick-and-roll offensive attach that catered to the strengths of Morant and Edey. During an eight-game stretch leading into the playoffs, Edey shot 64.8-percent from the field and averaged 10.6 points, 15.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in nearly 32 minutes per game.
“Putting it all together in such a short amount of time and having an impact on the possession game, there’s just a ton to build on,” Iisalo said of Edey’s late-season improvement. “This also shows how receptive and proactive he’s been about his own development. He craves feedback, he’s extremely tough and he wants to do what’s best. I can see an extremely bright future for him. Seeing how he and Ja’s interaction improved late in the season is a great example of that.”
Morant was also appreciative of how methodically Edey blossomed.
“He was pretty much in a different role early in the season,” Morant said of Edey’s evolution. “He basically played two (different) styles of basketball through this season. But no matter what was asked of him, he tried to do his best. And he did that. As the season went on, he continued to get better, and that’s a credit to his work and what he does to prepare for games and battle.”
Selected 30 spots after Edey in last summer’s draft was Wells, who quickly rose to the head of the rookie class as the steal of the second round.
With returning wings Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson coming off injuries entering training camp, Wells moved into the starting lineup during the preseason and thrived.
Making his mark with 3-point shooting and aggressive perimeter defense, Wells maintained the starting small forward role and was routinely tasked with guarding the opponent’s top player. Wells led all rookies in made 3-pointers (138), starts (74), free-throw percentage (82.2), plus-minus (+186) and team victories (47) before he suffered a season-ending broken wrist April 8.
By then, the 6-foot-7 swingman out of Washington State had already done enough to become a finalist for NBA Rookie of the Year, finishing third in the balloting. Wells has progressed through his injury rehab since the end of the season and has returned to basketball-related workouts after missing the Grizzlies’ first-round playoff series loss to Oklahoma City.
“I wouldn’t say I surprised myself, because I was with myself doing the work day to day,” Wells said of his breakout rookie season. “So, I knew these results were going to pay off. I was definitely kind of surprised just how much the coaching staff embraced me and allowed me to mess up, make rookie mistakes and still keep me out there guarding the best players. I’m confident of what’s coming next season, trying to expand my game to be even more a threat.”
That First-Team status places Edey and Wells in elite rookie company.
Coming off a national championship at UConn, Castle won Rookie of the Year on a Spurs’ team with a bright future. Risacher and Sarr were the No. 1 and No. 2 picks of the 2024 draft, respectively. Relative success was widely expected.
Then there’s Edey and Wells.
One highly doubted and the other largely overlooked as they transitioned to the NBA. But that was then. No rookies were more productive in contributing to a winning team more than Edey and Wells with Memphis.
As a result, two more Grizzlies crashed the NBA’s First-Team party by being in a class of their own.
And Edey’s got another stash of receipts to prove it.
Published on May 21, 2025
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