Zach Edey said he will skip NBA Summer League and FIBA competition this summer, choosing to focus entirely on rehabilitation after a season lost to multiple procedures.
Zach Edey is focused on getting healthy again and being ready to make a dynamic impact for the Memphis Grizzlies at the start of the 2026-27 season.
Edey, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, said Sunday he will not participate in NBA Summer League or represent Team Canada in FIBA competition this summer, opting instead to focus entirely on rehabilitation.
"I know the dedication I'm going to put into my body this summer to make sure I can stay on there," Edey said before Memphis fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 142-126 at FedExForum. "I got to live with the results. Whatever happens, happens — but with that said, I know what type of player I can be here."
Edey, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 draft, underwent an ankle procedure in June 2025 before the season began. He debuted in mid-November, played 11 games, and then required a second ankle procedure for discomfort and a talar bone stress issue. A March elbow cleanup — an issue he said dates to middle school — brought his procedure total to three before his second NBA season was complete.
In those 11 games, Edey averaged 13.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 25.8 minutes. Memphis went 7-4 and climbed from near the bottom of the league in rebounding to one of its top teams. He said the sample was enough to show him his ceiling.
"Entering my second year, I felt like I could be a dominant force," he said.
The ankle did not give out all at once — it wore him down over weeks.
"Every game it kind of got a little worse," Edey said. "My first few games, I didn't feel it at all. Then I may have pushed it too much — played too many minutes or whatever it was. Toward the end of that stretch, it started giving me problems."
Edey is aware of the concern that comes with a foot injury for a player his size. He was one of the top rookies in his class in 2024-25, but was unable to fully turn the early-season flashes he showed this season into prolonged stretches because of injury.
"That's always a concern," he said. "Everybody has that concern. But I know what type of player I can be when I'm on that court."