Zach Edey is the biggest basketball player on pretty much every court he could possibly stand on, and that creates different angles than for pretty much every other player.
That may have proven a bit costly in the first quarter on Friday night as Edey’s Memphis Grizzlies took on the Golden State Warriors and their talented guard Brandin Podziemski.
Maybe a more natural size matchup would’ve avoided an injury to Podziemski on a cut to the basket.
But with Edey scrambling to defend the rim, things didn’t work out very well.
What Happened With Zach Edey and Brandin Podziemski?
Podziemski, the talented young lefty guard for Golden State, was operating on the perimeter when he worked a give-and-go toward the basket.
The move worked initially, because Podziemski’s cut got him behind Edey.
But the 7-foot-4 Edey figured out what was happening just in time and scrambled to catch up.
Edey was still late getting into position, though, and his swat for the basketball couldn’t get it.
Instead, Edey’s swinging arm came down to whack Podziemski in his head with the big center’s forearm.
This is what happened (with link here if it doesn’t display properly):
Nice pass and cut by Podz to counter the denial by Jerome. Fearless drive against Zach Edey results in a two but pays a huge price for it when officials clearly miss a whack to the face. https://t.co/nnZOM8YGry
— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) October 24, 2026
Podziemski had to head to the locker room. It wasn’t immediately clear how badly he may have been injured.
Zach Edey’s Early-Season Role
Edey isn’t necessarily a huge minutes player. The Grizzlies would probably like to play him in limited stints for an overall solid workload but not on the court for super long stretches at a time.
The problem in the early going for Memphis, though, is that Isaiah Stewart is out.
The Grizzlies traded for Stewart from the Detroit Pistons during the 2026 NBA Draft for future second-round picks so that they could have a quality backup for Edey.
Stewart is an energetic, enforcer-type player who the Memphis fans will really appreciate.
But with Stewart out injured, there’s just a little bit more pressure on Edey.
That didn’t impact his defense on this play, but there will be a lot of eyes on Edey in the opening stages of this season, especially with Stewart out.
Grizzlies’ Zach Edey Injured Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski: Here’s What Happened