Memphis hands the keys to Cedric Coward and hopes Zach Edey can stay on the floor

The Memphis Grizzlies are starting over without quite saying so. Jaren Jackson Jr. is gone to the Utah Jazz, Jerami Grant and Isaiah Stewart are in, and the players who decide what this team becomes are mostly guards who earned their minutes last season. The question for 2026-27 is whether Cedric Coward and Cam Spencer can turn good numbers from a bad season into a better team.

Last season was rough. Memphis went 25-57, finished 13th in the West and missed the playoffs, getting outscored by 5.8 points per 100 possessions. The roster churned all year: Toby Okani, Lucas Williamson and Dariq Whitehead each played only a handful of games but logged big minutes in them, which is what a team filling holes looks like.

Jackson out, Grant in

Jackson is the loss that matters. He played 45 games at 30.7 minutes and graded above average (1.01) in our impact rating, which counts the points a player adds per 100 possessions over an average one. Rayan Rupert left for the Philadelphia 76ers after 16 games that went badly (-4.55). In all, only 55% of last season's minutes return.

Grant is the headline arrival. He scored 18.6 points a night for the Portland Trail Blazers in 29.8 minutes and graded a little above average (0.49). Kris Murray came with him from Portland, right at average (-0.03) in 23.5 minutes. Stewart arrives from the Detroit Pistons with 10 points and 5 rebounds in 22.7 minutes, and Quinten Post (Golden State Warriors, 7.7 points in 17.3 minutes) and Micah Peavy (New Orleans Pelicans) add depth. Three rookies, Cameron Boozer, Karim Lopez and Carson Cooper, round it out.

Coward's team to grow into

The best news from last season is Coward. He averaged 13.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 25.8 minutes over 62 games, and graded well above average at 1.87, the best mark among the Grizzlies who played a full role. A guard who rebounds like that and wins his minutes is someone to build around, and this season he should get the chance.

Spencer was the other pleasant surprise: 11.1 points and 5.6 assists in 23.8 minutes over 72 games, and a 1.24. He is the closest thing Memphis has to a steady point guard, and with Grant taking shots off everyone's plate, both he and Coward should find cleaner looks.

GG Jackson (12.7 points in 21.8 minutes) and Javon Small (9.9 points and 3.8 assists) sat close to average, at -0.2 and -0.12. That makes them useful rotation pieces rather than answers, but on a roster this unsettled, useful counts for a lot.

Two small samples, two big numbers

The two best ratings on the roster belong to players who barely played. Ty Jerome appeared in only 15 games, but in them he scored 19.7 points with 5.7 assists in 22.7 minutes and graded at 3.21. Zach Edey played just 11 games, with 13.6 points and 11.1 rebounds in 25.8 minutes, and a 2.87.

Small samples can fool you, and Edey is listed as questionable. But if either of them holds up over a full season at anything close to those numbers, Memphis is a different team. Edey, the one true center in this core, would also fill the space inside that Jackson left behind.

The worries

The minutes that hurt went to guards and wings. Walter Clayton Jr. played 69 games at 20.5 minutes, with 7.8 points and 4 assists, and graded well below average (-2.98). Jaylen Wells took 26.4 minutes a night and scored 12.5 points, but graded below average too (-1.57). Both return, and both will be fighting the newcomers for the same minutes.

The newcomers do not all fix that. Stewart (-1.06) and Peavy (-1.74 in 14.9 minutes) graded below average last season, and Peavy is on the injury report as questionable, along with Edey and the rookie Lopez. With this much of the roster new, it may take a while to learn who belongs in the rotation.

Bottom line

Our roster model ranks Memphis 24th of 30 and projects about 32 wins, a modest step up from last season. That feels fair for a team in transition. If Coward and Spencer grow into bigger roles and Edey stays on the floor, the Grizzlies can beat it. If Clayton and Wells grade like last season and the small samples turn out to be just that, they will not.

It starts at home on Wednesday, October 21, at 8:00 PM ET, against the Utah Jazz, with Jackson on the other bench.