Zach Edey is the biggest draft-day bargain on ESPN in both formats
The consensus ranks Edey 69th on points and 60th in 9-cat, and ESPN drafters were letting him fall to around pick 124, a gap no other player on our board comes close to.
By James · 2 min read
Zach EdeyPhoto: NBAFreeZach Edey played eleven games last season. He had surgery on his left elbow and his left ankle in March, and Memphis has kept him out of preseason games while he works back, though The Daily Memphian, as relayed by RotoWire and CBS Sports, reports that he remains on track for the opener against Utah on October 21. Eleven games is why drafters have forgotten him, and it is also the only thing standing between him and a mid-round price.
- Zach Edey MEM76thvs 69th
When we compared every player's consensus rank with ESPN's average draft position in early October, Edey had the biggest gap of any player we looked at, in both formats. The points consensus has him 69th and the 9-cat consensus 60th, while ESPN drafters were taking him around 124th, and on Yahoo, where drafters were taking him around 76th, the gap is much smaller.
| Consensus | ESPN draft position | Yahoo draft position | Our rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 69th | about 124th | about 76th | 79th (ESPN scoring) |
| 9-cat | 60th | about 124th | about 76th | 61st |
What we project
We project 14.2 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 26 minutes over 57 games, on 62% shooting from the field and 78% at the line. In his eleven games last season he averaged 13.6 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 26 minutes, so the projection asks for the same player he already was, not a better one. The games are the assumption, and 57 leaves room for a slow start from a center coming back from two surgeries.
Why he fits both formats
In points leagues his rebounds and blocks do the work, and his efficiency means the misses cost little under ESPN's scoring, where a miss takes a point away. In 9-cat he is a classic big-man build: rebounds, blocks and field-goal percentage, a free-throw percentage that neither helps nor hurts much on three attempts a night, and almost nothing in threes or steals. The boards agree more than his draft position suggests, with Matt at 40th and Papi Roi at 80th in 9-cat and every points board between 52nd and 89th.
The risk
The risk is health, and it is real. A player coming back from ankle and elbow surgery can be slowed by either, and if he starts the season on a minutes limit his first month will look worse than his projection. What makes him a bargain is that the price already assumes most of that risk. At pick 124 you are drafting a starting center for the cost of a bench player.
What to do
On ESPN, take Edey in the eighth or ninth round of a twelve-team draft, which is well ahead of where he is going and still well behind his consensus rank. On Yahoo, where drafters already take him around 76th, take him at his price only if you need a center. In either case, draft a second center later so that a slow start does not cost you a week.
Every player in this story is on the fantasy basketball rankings and the 2026-27 projections, and the NBA depth charts show where each one stands in his team’s rotation tonight.
