The Memphis Grizzlies are heading into a rebuild with the spotlight where it now belongs: on the frontcourt.
With Mike Conley gone to Boston and Ja Morant starting over in Portland in No. 1, Memphis is moving into a new phase without the guard who defined so much of the franchise’s identity.
That leaves the next wave of hope in the hands of big men and forwards, the same kind of players who have long filled the top of the Grizzlies’ all-time scoring lists behind Conley. The names there tell the story: the Gasol brothers, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
Now the franchise is banking on another frontcourt core to push it forward, even if the road ahead is going to be rough. The 2026-27 season is expected to come with plenty of losing and plenty of learning.
At the center of that future are Zach Edey and Cameron Boozer. Boozer, the No. 3 pick in what is expected to be one of the most productive NBA drafts ever, arrives with big expectations and no shortage of confidence.
He believed he should have gone No. 1, which fits the profile of a player Memphis needs as it tries to climb out of the basement. He should be right in the Rookie of the Year mix and is set to step in immediately at power forward.
With Santi Aldama traded to Dallas, there are minutes there for Boozer to grow without the burden of a playoff race hanging over him.
Boozer already sounds excited about the fit with Edey. “I think it's really exciting. I think we automatically become one of the best rebounding duos in the league.”
Edey’s own trajectory is a big reason Memphis feels it has something real here. The 7-foot-3 Canadian looked sharper, more efficient and more fluid before the Grizzlies shut him down after just 11 games, choosing caution over letting ankle problems become something bigger.
That decision was easier to make once the team slid into tank mode after a slow start. Edey had been trending toward becoming a major two-way force, and Memphis made the call to protect the long view by getting him surgery earlier this year.
He’s not someone the Grizzlies can label injury-prone. He played 66 games as a rookie and stayed healthy through four seasons at Purdue.
At his size, the injury concern is always part of the conversation, but Memphis chose preventive maintenance rather than risk. The real question now is how he looks when training camp opens.
If he stays on the floor and clicks with Boozer, that alone would make the season meaningful and set the table for what comes next.
Memphis has been through this before, though not often in recent years. The Grizzlies have finished last five times since 2007, but they had not done so since the 2017-18 season, when they lost 60 games and tied the franchise mark for defeats since relocating to Memphis.
Last season ended with a 2-21 stretch and a 25-57 record, a finish shaped by tanking and a parade of rentals and 10-day signings. The payoff was landing a top-three pick and continuing to build draft capital.
The only projected starter who actually logged minutes during that stretch was Jaylen “Juice” Wells, who is back for a third season on the wing. Wells played in 11 of the final 23 games because of injury issues of his own, but he’ll be 23 when camp begins and has already taken the kind of hard lessons that await the younger frontcourt pieces.
He has started 143 of the 148 games he’s played, has earned trust as a 3-and-D type, and has shot a little over 35 percent from deep in each of his first two seasons. His on-ball defense has also helped him stand out, and he looks set to be a fixture opposite second-year shooting guard Cedric Coward.
The depth behind that group gives Memphis some options. Jerami Grant is expected to be the likely sixth man and brings a veteran scoring presence after filling a similar role in Portland over the past few years.
Quinten Post, a stretch-five who has been useful for Golden State over his first two seasons, is now in the mix after the Warriors passed on matching Memphis’ offer at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday. Taylor Hendricks, who came over from the Jazz in the Jackson deal, is another piece who could matter.
There’s also GG Jackson, who got a heavy dose of playing time late last season and is still only 21 despite already appearing in 132 games since entering the league in 2023. He and Hendricks are the kinds of wild cards that could make this roster look deeper than it does on paper.
Newly acquired Kris Murray may get a chance too, though he’ll need to shoot better than he did in Portland to lock down steady minutes. First-round pick Karim Lopez, who is 19, is expected to spend time in the G League after going 21st.
How all of it comes together will depend in part on Tuomas Iisalo, who used a heavy rotation in his first season and managed minutes in a way that often felt more like hockey line changes than a standard NBA approach. Whether he keeps that style or adjusts it will matter for a young group that needs reps as much as results. That includes Coward, who is viewed as a rising two-way player and should take another step in his second season.
For now, Memphis has the kind of frontcourt that could eventually become one of the West’s better groups. But youth comes with a price, and this one is still early in its development. The hope is straightforward: stay healthy, grow together and keep confidence intact through the inevitable bumps.
In Other News...
Grizzlies Just Sent A Clear Message About Who Matters Next
The Grizzlies took a different look in their third Salt Lake City Summer League game on July 7, choosing to rest several players who had handled the first two outings and giving the finale a more experimental feel. Memphis still had enough firepower to stay competitive for stretches, but the rotation shift made the night feel less about the scoreboard and more about which pieces the organization wanted to protect and evaluate next.
Memphis fell to the Hawks 96-82, with Brendan Hausen providing the scoring punch, while Taylor Hendricks returned after sitting out the previous game because of injury. The bigger picture now turns to Las Vegas, where the Grizzlies are expected to get their rested players back and continue sorting out who is actually part of the next wave. [Read more 🡒]
Grizzlies Fans Have One Big Question About Memphis Latest Trade
Khris Middletons move to Washington is only part of a sprawling sign-and-trade that has tied together the Wizards, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Pistons, Clippers and Bucks, and Memphis is right in the middle of it. For Grizzlies fans, the headline is less about where Middleton ended up and more about what the team chose to take back in the shuffle, since the franchise used a complicated multi-team deal to add another layer to its offseason work.
The real question now is how Memphis plans to handle the incoming guard piece and the draft capital attached to the trade. The Grizzlies have been active in reshaping the roster around their core, and this kind of move usually signals flexibility as much as it does a clear long-term fit, which is why the next step here matters almost as much as the trade itself. [Read more 🡒]
Grizzlies Just Made Their Riskiest Frontcourt Bet Yet
The frontcourt shuffle in Memphis took another turn after the Grizzlies sent Santi Aldama to Dallas in a deal that brought back AJ Johnson, a protected 2030 first-round pick and two future second-round picks, along with the draft rights to EuroLeague forward Tarik Biberovi going to the Mavericks. Aldama had become a useful piece for Memphis before a knee injury interrupted his momentum, and moving him now signals the Grizzlies are willing to rework that part of the roster rather than simply wait for it to heal itself.
Quinten Post is the next name to watch, with Memphis moving quickly to a three-year offer sheet for the restricted free agent. Golden State now has the chance to decide whether to keep him, and that waiting period leaves the Grizzlies in a familiar spot for a team trying to patch together size and spacing on the fly. If the Warriors pass, Memphis may have found a way to soften the blow of losing Aldama. If they do not, the risk in this frontcourt bet gets even harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]