The Grizzlies are 2-1 through three preseason games, and with one left Friday against Charlotte, the spotlight isn’t only on No. 3 pick Cam Boozer. Three other players have spent camp making their own noise: GG Jackson II has looked like a scorer ready for a larger stage, Taylor Hendricks has kept flashing the same steady two-way value, and Zach Edey has started to answer the biggest health questions around him.
Jackson II has probably been the loudest of the three. In just under 15 minutes a night, he’s averaging 14.3 points and four rebounds while shooting 51.7% from the field, going 15-for-29.
That production has come in different ways, too. He started with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the win over Atlanta, then put up 15 points and six rebounds in the loss to Orlando, and followed with another 14 points and four boards in Friday’s win over Chicago.
What stands out is how much more natural he looks creating for himself. At 6-foot-9, he’s using his length and size to attack bigger defenders, put the ball on the floor with purpose and get all the way to the rim. That’s a different version of Jackson II than the one Memphis often had to slot into a narrow role a season ago.
He’s on a four-year, $8.5 million deal signed through the mid-level exception, and Memphis already picked up his $2.4 million option for 2026-27. He’s set for unrestricted free agency in 2027. For now, he’s still crowded on the depth chart with Jerami Grant, Jaylen Wells and others battling for forward minutes, but the preseason has made a familiar point hard to ignore: when he gets run, he produces.
That’s been true before. Late last season, in a bigger role, Jackson II put together a 16.4-point stretch on 51.2% shooting across February and March, then followed with 20.3 points in April.
Even earlier, during his rookie year on an injured roster, he averaged 14.6 points in 25.7 minutes per game. His final game as a rookie was a reminder of how high the ceiling can go, as he went for 44 points and 12 rebounds against the Nuggets.
If he keeps pairing that scoring with defensive effort and efficient offense, Memphis may have to pay up sooner rather than later.
Hendricks has been the quieter story, but maybe the most reliable one. He opened preseason with seven points, six rebounds, three steals and a block in 19 minutes off the bench against Atlanta, then followed with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three, in only 11 minutes against Orlando. Through those two games, he’s averaging 9.5 points, four rebounds, two steals and a block while shooting 66.7%.
That isn’t a one-week surprise. After arriving from Utah in February in the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade, Hendricks averaged 12.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game after the All-Star break last season. This preseason has looked like more of the same: a player who can fill a box score without forcing the issue.
The stakes are bigger now, though. The 22-year-old is in the final year of his rookie-scale contract and carries a $7.8 million salary for 2026-27.
Extension talks are possible before the Oct. 31 deadline, and restricted free agency arrives next summer either way. His exact role on a healthy roster still has to be sorted out, but if he keeps defending and keeps developing on offense, it’s going to be tough to leave him on the bench.
Then there’s Edey, who entered camp with the biggest question mark of anyone on the Memphis roster and has already started to chip away at it. He sat out the preseason opener against Atlanta, with the team saying the regular season opener was the priority. Before his debut against Orlando, coach Tuomas Iisalo said the decision to play him was “pretty much the best-case scenario that we had planned, and there was nothing that prevented us from going through.”
Edey didn’t play all three games, but he did something important for a player who has dealt with injury issues since arriving in Memphis in 2024: he handled two games in three nights. Against Orlando, he played 10 minutes and finished with two points, four rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. In Friday’s win over Chicago, he was much sharper, putting up 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and a block in 16 minutes.
At media day, general manager Zach Kleiman said Edey was “exactly where we hoped he would be,” cleared for full-speed, full-court work. The preseason minutes backed that up. If he can get a meaningful run Friday against Charlotte, it would be another encouraging sign for a team trying to catch people off guard this season and leaning on its 7-foot-4 center to help make that happen.
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