1 Stat Zach Edey must improve to keep pace in the Rookie of the Year race

The 2024-25 NBA season is still early as the calendar hasn't even flipped into the month of November yet. However, Zach Edey's start to his NBA career has been less than stellar for a highly regarded player playing for a team with championship aspirations this season.

Five games into his rookie campaign, Edey doesn't have a double-digit rebound game and has only scored in double-digits twice. Again, five games is a short sample size, especially for a rookie starting center who played his first two games without his starting frontcourt teammate, former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr.

The adjustment level to the NBA continued for Edey as the team's past three games were his first opportunity to play with Jaren Jackson Jr. in real game time minutes because he missed all of the preseason with a hamstring injury. Edey has only played over 20 minutes in one of his first five career games and the reason might not be a surprise.

Foul Troubles

Zach Edey is averaging 3.4 fouls per game over his first five career games as a starting NBA center. He fouled out of their season-opening win against the Jazz with nine minutes remaining in the game and committed four fouls in each of the team's following two games. Due to this, he only played 50:41 game time minutes through the team's first three games.

Although he committed one foul in the Grizzlies' fourth game, a loss to the Chicago Bulls, Edey had more fouls (15) than field goals (14) through the team's first four games. Improvement is already being made on that end as Edey committed only two fouls in the Grizzlies' fifth contest against the Brooklyn Nets, meaning he committed only three fouls total in the team's last two games (combined to be less than any game previously).

The key to Zach Edey's rookie year will be consistency and improving every game. His rebounding and block numbers have been less than ideal (4.4 rebounding average and one total block through five games) but the foul troubles have played a huge part in that production. He has already made strides improving in that area and will be looked upon to continue improving to get his minutes up.

Ideally, playing 16.6 minutes per game (average through first five games) won't be good for Edey or the Grizzlies long term but the season is long and the rookie big man has already shown improvement. Patience will have to be key for the Grizzlies to get to the level they want and for Zach Edey to challenge for the Rookie of the Year award.