NEW YORK – Zach Edey will take his 7-foot-4 frame to Memphis to begin his NBA career.
Edey, the former Purdue center who became the first player in more than 40 years to win The Associated Press men's college basketball player of the year in consecutive seasons, was selected by the Grizzlies with the ninth pick in the Wednesday's NBA. draft.
📞The call that changes your life. – @memgrizz
Spending it with your hoops family is even better. pic.twitter.com/A8w1x8F3Wh
– Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) June 27, 2024
And so begins the process of seeing your game translate to the next level. Edey will be one of the tallest players in the NBA next season; in 2023-24, only San Antonio Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, Houston's Boban Marjanovic and Phoenix's Bol Bol were listed at 7 feet 3 inches or taller.
Edey averaged 22.3 points and 12.9 rebounds as a junior, then 25.2 points and 12.2 rebounds during a senior season in which he led Purdue to the NCAA title game against Connecticut.
Edey is one of six players to have won the AP Player of the Year award, dating back to the 1960-61 season, on multiple occasions. The others: Jerry Lucas of Ohio State, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton of UCLA, David Thompson of North Carolina and Ralph Sampson of Virginia. Lucas, Abdul-Jabbar, Walton, Thompson and Edey won twice; Sampson won the AP Award three times.
