Cameron Boozer Made First-Team All-Summer League The Grizzlies Have Their Franchise Piece
Cameron Boozer just made his first NBA statement. He did it in July, in Las Vegas, before he even played a real regular season game.
The Memphis Grizzlies rookie was named to the 2026 NBA All-Summer League First Team, joining Brayden Burries of the Milwaukee Bucks, Yaxel Lendeborg of the Golden State Warriors, Meleek Thomas of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Caleb Wilson of the Chicago Bulls. Boozer led the Grizzlies to the Summer League title game, where they lost to the Warriors. He posted 19 points, eight rebounds, and four assists in that final.
Not bad for an 18-year-old.
Boozer was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft after his lone college season at Duke, where he was one of the best freshmen in the country alongside Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson. Memphis was thrilled to land him at No. 3 after the top two picks came off the board. He is going to slot in immediately as a starting power forward for a franchise that needs help around Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
The Summer League production tells the story. Boozer made a total of eight appearances between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. He was the best player on the floor almost every time. His combination of physical strength, high basketball IQ, and impressive skill level was too much for other summer league prospects to handle. Initial projections have him flirting with 20 points and 10 rebounds per game as a rookie.
Those are Rookie of the Year numbers. Those are franchise cornerstone numbers.
Memphis has been in a weird spot the last few years. Morant is still elite when healthy but has dealt with injuries and off-court issues. Jackson is a Defensive Player of the Year winner but streaky on offense. Desmond Bane was traded to the Magic last year in one of the most puzzling deals of the offseason. The Grizzlies needed a rebuild without actually starting one from scratch.
Boozer is that reset. He gives them a young, high-floor player who complements Morant’s game perfectly. He can run the floor. He can score in the post. He can pass out of double teams. And he already competes like a veteran, which is not something you say about most 18-year-olds.
The bigger picture is what Boozer’s success means for the college-to-NBA transition. Duke has now produced back-to-back top-three picks who made an immediate NBA impact. Coach Jon Scheyer has become one of the elite recruiters and developers in college basketball. The Duke-to-NBA pipeline is running as hot as it has since the early Coach K era.
For the Grizzlies, Boozer is the guy. The franchise cornerstone. The reason to be optimistic about the next five years.
He is going to have growing pains as a rookie. Every rookie does. The 82-game season is a different beast than Summer League. But if the last three weeks are any indication, Memphis has a legitimate future star on its hands.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
