Grizzlies Begin Their Rebuild with Two First Round Selections

It was another tough season in the 901 as a Memphis Grizzlies fan, but Tuesday's draft results might have made the long winter worth everything.

In a year that the Grizzlies were hoping to at least compete for a spot in the Western Conference playoffs, it turned into a disaster with another injury to Ja Morant, Zach Edey, and pretty much every other player on the roster.

The Grizzlies parted ways with Desmond Bane during the summer, shipping him off to Orlando for a haul of picks, and with the injuries taking place early in the season, it was pretty much set that Memphis wasn't going to compete and traded former Defensive Player of The Year Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz for more picks as GM Zach Kleiman signaled the start of yet another rebuild.

Luck began to turn Memphis' way with the lottery resulting in a 3 spot jump to the No. 3 selection in the 2026 NBA draft followed by collecting the Suns' first round pick at No. 16.

Fast-forward to June 23rd and one can hope that this night marked the start of an important night in the franchise's history.

With the third pick, the Grizzlies took Cameron Boozer out of Duke. If you're reading this, you likely know Boozer is the son of former NBA standout Carlos Boozer and was the Naismith College Player of the Year this past season.

The 6-foot-8 phenom will now to look to become the face of a franchise that is likely to move on from Morant and get paired with former All-American Zach Edey in Memphis' front court.

I truly think that Boozer has a chance to be the best player from this class (not a hot take I know) and can be a future star in this league.

Boozer will finish plays, rebound well, and his weaknesses will be mitigated from Edey’s rim protection and the perimeter defense of Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells.

The thing I'm looking forward to the most with him is his basketball IQ. His ability to pass out of double teams and playmaking ability is something this city hasn't seen out of a front court guy in a long time.

If ever saw Jackson Jr. try to pass out of a double team, you'll understand why this pick makes me so happy.

The dude wins everywhere he goes, and I'm hoping it can continue in the M.

Now, moving to to the second selection of the night, Memphis was able to stockpile 2nd round picks (likely to throw in as an incentive for teams to try and pursue Morant) and ended up moving back to No. 21 where they selected Karim Lopez, the NBL forward from Mexico.

Both picks are 18-year-old's who I think can turn out to have significant impact on this rebuild.

For Kleiman to be able to take a guy that they were likely targeting at 16 five spots back and earn some second round picks to maybe throw in for compensation in the Morant sweepstakes (I'm not even sure I would call it a sweepstakes). It is the first time he has ever traded down in a draft.

Lopez is going to be a solid wing due to his defensive event creation, driving ability, and defensive versatility. He can play the 3 or 4, and think a guy like his size has shown importance for teams wanting to make deep playoff runs (i.e. Carter Bryant).

He averaged 11.9 PTS, 6.1 REB, 1.9 AST, 1.2 STL & 1.0 BLK per game while shooting 49.2% from the field this past year. He also features decent playmaking ability, and looking forward to seeing how he can contribute.

Memphis now has pick No. 32 in the second round of the draft on June 24 with their eyes likely set on a 3-point shooting wing or a backup big man. I would almost prefer the backup center to be a veteran, but it will be interesting to see how they view tomorrow's board.

Regardless, the future has officially been set for the Grizzlies in their path back to competing in a loaded Western Conference.