Zach Edey

About

Zachry Cheyne Edey, born May 14, 2002, in Toronto, is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies, who selected him in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft. He played college basketball at Purdue, leading the Boilermakers to the NCAA Division I men’s championship game in his final season.

Edey capped his college career with back-to-back honors, winning Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus National Player of the Year at the close of both the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Edey was born to Julia and Glen Edey; his mother, who stands 6-foot-3, was born in Toronto to Chinese immigrant parents and played basketball growing up, while his father is white and played baseball in his youth.

Edey himself grew up playing ice hockey and baseball before turning to basketball. He began playing organized basketball in grade 10 at Leaside High School in Toronto through the Northern Kings Amateur Athletic Union program.

He later moved to the United States to attend IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, joining the school’s second-tier team in his first year there, where he trained daily under an IMG coach and former NBA player before developing into the dominant college center who would headline Purdue’s rise to national prominence.