The Memphis Grizzlies are walking into Las Vegas Summer League with the kind of buzz oddsmakers don’t hand out lightly.
DraftKings has Memphis tied with Utah at +800 to win the event, making the Grizzlies a co-favorite when the action starts July 9 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion. The annual showcase runs through July 19, and the Jazz are expected to be right in the thick of it as well. Sacramento, last year’s runner-up, sits third in the market at +950.
Memphis also has a pair of players near the front of the MVP board. Cedric Coward is listed at +1000, while No. 3 pick Cameron Boozer is at +1500, putting both among the five favorites.
Utah’s expected headliners include No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey, the 2025 No. 5 pick, who are co-favorites with Coward at 10-to-1. Kyle Filipowski, last season’s leading scorer in the event, is no longer eligible for this stage of the league’s young-talent spotlight.
Coward’s status is the big question for Memphis. After a strong rookie year in which he averaged 13.6 points and 5.9 rebounds while starting 47 of 62 games, he’s already being treated like a player the Grizzlies want to protect.
He’s drawn comparisons to a young Kawhi Leonard and is seen as a core piece of what Memphis is building, so it would be a surprise to see him pushed beyond two games in Vegas. He already played in a couple of games at the Salt Lake City Summer League from July 4-7, including a 109-100 loss in which he led Memphis with 23 points.
Peterson was the standout in that one, finishing with 25 points and 12 assists.
That makes Boozer the cleaner bet in the Summer League MVP race if Coward’s run is short. Boozer is expected to be one of the main attractions in Las Vegas, along with top pick A.J.
Dybantsa of the Wizards, who is also at +1500. Washington opens against Utah on the event’s first night at 9 p.m.
ET in a matchup being billed as a meeting of the top picks in this heavily anticipated draft.
Boozer won’t take the floor until Friday, July 10, which gives him an extra day to settle into the desert setting. Memphis opens against Chicago, a game that will also feature Boozer’s Tobacco Road rival and good friend, UNC product Caleb Wilson.
From there, the Grizzlies’ schedule includes Dallas, Golden State and Atlanta before the knockout round begins. Dallas will be without Cooper Flagg. Coverage of the event will be on Prime and the ESPN family of networks.
In Other News...
Cedric Coward Has One Hurdle Left Before A Massive Grizzlies Leap
Cedric Coward already gave the Grizzlies plenty to like in his first NBA season after Memphis took him 11th overall in the 2025 draft. He put together a strong rookie year, earned All-Rookie First Team honors and showed enough across 62 games to suggest the franchise may have found a long-term piece on the wing.
Now Coward is back in Summer League, where the early returns have been encouraging. His added strength and defensive activity stand out, and the Grizzlies can see the outline of a valuable two-way player who fits their timeline, even if there is still a part of his offensive game that will determine just how high his ceiling can go. [Read more 🡒]
Grizzlies Young Core Faces Its First Real Vegas Test Tonight
Summer League in Las Vegas is where a young roster stops being a collection of draft-night talking points and starts getting judged on how it functions against real competition. For the Bulls, that means a first look at recent picks Caleb Wilson, Dailyn Swain and Noa Essengue under Tiago Splitter, with Memphis waiting at the Thomas & Mack Center as the kind of opponent that can quickly expose whether the pieces fit or just look promising on paper.
From the Grizzlies side, this is the sort of early test that matters because their own young core is still settling into roles and responsibilities, with a projected lineup that includes Javon Small, Cedric Coward, Oliver-Maxence Prosper, Cameron Boozer and Carson Cooper. The matchup also adds a layer of intrigue because Wilson and Boozer have already been tied together in draft conversation, and their previous college meeting left enough of a footprint to make this one feel like more than a routine July run, even before the ball goes up. [Read more 🡒]