SI:AM | The Most Interesting Developments From the NBA Draft

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I never expected Zach Edey to be drafted as high as he was.

In today’s SI:AM:

🏀 NBA draft recap
⚽ USWNT roster
🦆 Slick new NHL uniforms

The first round of the NBA draft on Wednesday in Brooklyn went mostly as planned, with the top four picks going as most had projected them to go. But there were also some surprises. Let’s break down a few of them.

The Wizards’ big night

The Washington Wizards had more first-round picks than any other team on Wednesday, pulling off a couple of trades that resulted in three picks.

They may have selected the best player in the entire draft with the No. 2 pick, landing 7-foot Frenchman Alexandre Sarr after he refused to work out for the team with the top pick, the Atlanta Hawks. Washington also traded Deni Avdija to the Portland Trail Blazers, receiving Malcolm Brogdon and the No. 14 pick as part of the return. It used that pick to select Pitt point guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington. Later, the Wiz made a trade with the New York Knicks to acquire the 24th pick and select Miami’s Kyshawn George, a 6′ 7″ wing player.

The Wizards were a disaster last season, finishing with the second-worst record in the NBA at 15–67. The combination of Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole still seems doomed, but Washington at least now has a handful of intriguing young players, including last year’s No. 7 pick, Bilal Coulibaly.

Zach Edey vaults into the top 10

One of the biggest surprises of the night came when the Memphis Grizzlies selected Purdue center Zach Edey at No. 9.

When was the last time a player saw his draft stock rise as dramatically as Edey? The 7′ 4″, 300-pound behemoth dominated smaller opponents in college en route to becoming the first player since Bill Walton to win back-to-back national player of the year awards. Twenty years ago, he would have been as sure a No. 1 draft pick as Victor Wembanyama was last year. But the NBA has evolved, and pure post scorers like Edey are a thing of the past. That made his place in the draft something of a mystery. How would teams value a player who is the best in a generation at a style of basketball that has fallen out of favor?

After his junior year, Edey was mostly viewed as a second-round pick. During his senior year, he started to establish himself as a potential late first-round pick. A dominant showing in the NCAA tournament (40 points, 16 rebounds vs. Tennessee in the Elite Eight and 37 points, 10 rebounds vs. UConn in the title game) boosted his stock even more ahead of the NBA draft combine, where he impressed in the physical testing and even showed off a decent jumper. All of a sudden, Edey was basically a lock to go in the first round.

“Zach Edey is a particularly special fit [for the franchise],” Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman told reporters after the pick. “In getting to know him, we are talking about someone whose competitiveness is through the roof, care factor is through the roof. No ego, just wants to win.”

The Knicks’ shrewd moves

The Knicks entered Wednesday in an interesting position. They traded for Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges on Tuesday, giving them another talented wing player to add to a team that finished second in the Eastern Conference last season. But the trade also put the team up against the salary cap and when OG Anunoby reportedly agreed to re-sign with New York on Wednesday afternoon, it made the cap situation even trickier, especially if the franchise still hoped to re-sign center Isaiah Hartenstein.

But the Knicks did a great job of using the draft to maximize their cap flexibility. They entered the night with two picks in the first round (Nos. 24 and 25). They subsequently traded the 24th pick to the Wizards for the 26th and 51st pick in this year’s draft, then turned right around and traded No. 26 to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a whopping five future second-round picks. The Knicks retained the 25th pick and used it to select 18-year-old French wing player Pacôme Dadiet. They will pick at No. 38 and No. 51 in Thursday’s second round.

The moves allowed New York to significantly reduce the costs associated with its draft picks. The players selected 24th and 25th in the draft will make about $5 million combined this season. By trading away one of those picks and using the other to select a player who can remain in Europe, the Knicks saved a solid chunk of money. And they can still use their two second-round picks to round out the bench with players who will only make the rookie minimum of $1.2 million. If those second-rounders are signed to two-way contracts, they’ll earn even less—roughly $580,000. At the same time, the Knicks also acquired a boatload of draft picks that can be dangled in future trades. It was a series of moves that helped solve a pressing issue for the Knicks and also set them up for the future.

… things I saw last night:

5. Luis Severino’s former Yankees teammates admiring the beard he’s allowed to grow now that he’s on the Mets.
4. The Mets fan in a Grimace costume chugging a beer on the concourse during a rain delay.
3. Aaron Judge’s 30th home run of the season. He’s just the third player in MLB history to hit 30 homers before the All-Star break three times, joining Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. (The Yankees lost the game, though, and have now lost six of their last seven.)
2. Jalen Williams of the Thunder celebrating with his brother Cody after Cody was drafted by the Jazz.
1. Guardians rookie Jhonkensy Noel’s bizarre first MLB at-bat. He lost his grip on his first swing and threw his bat past third base. On his second swing, he hit a towering home run.