Lakers NBA Draft Prospect Evaluations: Purdue Center Zach Edey

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2024 NBA Draft just around the corner, the Los Angeles Lakers have the potential to add some talented prospects to the organization.

They currently own the No. 17 and 55 overall picks and while it’s possible they trade one or both, standing pat is the most likely scenario.

In the event that the Lakers keep the 17th pick, there are a number of players they have been linked to and one of them is Purdue center Zach Edey.

Arguably the face of college basketball the last two years as the back-to-back National Player of the Year, Edey possesses a size that not many can at 7’3.75 to go along with a 7’10.75 wingspan and weight of 299 pounds.

In 39 games last season, Edey averaged 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.2 blocks while shooting 62.3% from the field and 71.1% FT.

Strengths

Edey was basically unstoppable in the paint in college, but it isn’t solely because of his size. The big man possesses decent footwork down low and a soft touch at the rim showing off some good hook shots in the post.

He also understands how to use his body down low, being able to seal off the defense. He has shown the ability to make good reads as a passer when double-teamed and also keeps the ball high so is rarely stripped by smaller guards.

Defensively, he is a solid rim protector and has the size and strength to battle on the block against most bigs. He is also an excellent rebounder and gives excellent effort even when at a disadvantage defensively against quicker players.

It should also be noted that he has thrived in smaller roles as well such as in his earlier college years and as a member of the Canadian National Team. He is not someone that has to be a focal point of the offense, though he did that for Purdue in the last two seasons. But when employed as more of a defensive presence and screener, he thrived as well.

Edey also showed up in a major way and upped his game on the big stage of the March Madness tournament. He averaged 29.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in six tournament games.

Weaknesses

The concerns with Edey are obvious and mostly hinge on his lack of athleticism and foot speed, which is most worrisome on the defensive end. He greatly struggles when pulled away from the rim and was regularly beaten by perimeter players when switched out.

This is something that is far more prevalent in the NBA and teams are far more likely to hunt him on pick-and-rolls at this level than he experienced in college.

Offensively, he has no perimeter game to speak of and is really only a finisher around the rim. He is a decent free throw shooter so there is some slight hope that perhaps he can stretch his shooting out to at least the midrange area, but currently he brings nothing in terms of spot-up shooting of any kind.

Fit with Lakers

Edey has been the best player in college basketball for the past two years. In both 2023 and 2024, he was named National Player of the Year and Big Ten Player of the Year, while also winning the Pete Newell Big Man Award, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award and being named a consensus First Team All-American.

The Lakers struggled with their bigs any time Anthony Davis went to the bench and the team could certainly use some more beef to deal with some of the more physical centers the league has to offer and Edey undoubtedly fits that profile.

Ideally, Edey could immediately come in as a reserve and provide size, rebounding and rim protection to help offset what the Lakers miss with Davis off the court while also being someone the team can run a little offense through from time to time.

But in today’s NBA, big, slow-footed centers have to be otherworldly in other aspects of their game such is the case with players like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Edey is not those players and the Lakers must figure out whether his positives would ultimately outweigh his negatives.

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