Jaylen Wells and Zach Edey lose steam in the latest Kia Rookie Ladder

Zach Edey missed his first game of the season in last night's 12-point loss to the Denver Nuggets. After spraining his ankle in Sunday's game against the same Nuggets team, Edey hobbled off the court before getting his ankle iced after the game. Head coach Taylor Jenkins mentioned in the pregame before their second game against the Nuggets that Edey will be week-to-week battling the injury.

Due to this, along with other rookies around the league having huge scoring performances in the last week, Edey fell from second to fifth place in the new Kia Rookie Ladder rankings. The three players that surpassed him were Philadelphia 76ers' guard Jared McCain, Los Angeles Lakers' forward Dalton Knecht, and the 2024 draft's number one pick, Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher.

Head-to-head battle of the top two rookies

Grizzlies' rookie forward Jaylen Wells was ranked number one in last week's rankings and fell to number two behind Jared McCain this week. The Grizzlies play the 76ers tonight signaling the top two rookies in this week's ladder facing each other and potentially matching up as Wells has been the team's primary defender on the opponent's best perimeter player since he entered the starting lineup.

With an injury to Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain has scored at least 20 points for the 76ers in five straight games and averaged 27.7 points on 50.8% shooting from the field over the past week. Jaylen Wells will look to slow that down tonight in what looks to be an intriguing battle of who's the best rookie in the NBA right now.

Zach Edey's status

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies' rookie big man was having a really good week averaging 11 points, eight rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and one steal in the three games he played before suffering the left ankle injury during their third game. His game against the Lakers last Wednesday was especially impressive as he helped hold the NBA's second-leading scorer, Anthony Davis, to 21 points on 6-16 shooting, which was his lowest scoring output of this season.

This latest injury could affect Edey's status among the top five of the Kia Rookie Ladder going forward, as other rookies are now getting more opportunities and executing. Dalton Knecht just had back-to-back games scoring 27 points, and 37 points, respectively, and sparked the run that erased the Laker's third-quarter deficit to defeat the Grizzlies in their matchup last week.

The Grizzlies' rookies won't go out of this race without a fight, and some players' roles will decline as star players return, but the Kia Rookie Ladder is tightening up. Zach Edey and Jaylen Wells have competition and it will be interesting to see how the rookie race pans out as the season continues.