Saturday Roundtable – Zach Edey Predictions

If it’s Saturday, no matter how late, it must be the roundtable. Where I ask my fellow writers their opinions on a subject and we share with the class.

With Zach Edey putting his name into the NBA Draft while maintaining eligibility, what does your gut say he is going to do?

Jumbo Heroes:

Before I start, I want to make it clear I have no insider info on this one. I have no news on if he’s coming or going or the internal machinations of what his thinking is. I’m going based on what I read and my gut.

I think Zach Edey wants to stay. I do. I think he had a great time this year with his teammates, with his coaching staff, and being showered with praise (as awkward as that might feel for anyone). I think being the big man on campus (in more ways than one) is a dream for everyone. With NIL there are reports that Edey pulled in just under a million dollars this season. With the added hurdles due to him being Canadian it seems like, if reports are true, a working visa could clear up a lot of hassle and make it easier for him to pull in even more money. I think he goes through the process but ultimately decides to run it back and avenge the FDU loss.

Jed:

Edey is in as strong of a position for a college player wanting to leverage their NIL into some meaningful dollars to put off a professional career early in this history as anyone could possibly predicted. He was growing into a national sort of brand last year and his return next season could easily see him being used in marketing and promotional campaigns across all of Canada and the United States. Last season, Edey garnered between $850-$900k in NIL money and it stands to reason as the returning NPOY and being a unique human being at 7’4, he will likely make more than that next season.

The NBA rookie contract for 2022 for the 30th pick saw them make a guaranteed $1.8 million and it isn’t out of the realm of possibility to see Edey start to scratch that level of compensation thanks to NIL. We all know that Edey isn’t going to be a first round pick this year or even next year (without some massive showing from behind the arc) so those contracts in the second round are not guaranteed. Yes, some of those guys have gotten guaranteed money for one to two years but the NIL money is guaranteed for Edey and knowing he is grabbing $1 million in NIL is probably enough to keep him at Purdue for one more season. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Edey end up making $2 million in NIL money.

At the end of the day though, there isn’t a bad decision for Edey to make because he is a very young player still and an NBA team is going to take a shot with him as his ceiling still hasn’t been reached. I think he can still improve his mobility and his outside jumper is an intriguing aspect in the PNP and PNR of the NBA today. For me, I just think it makes way too much sense to go for the more…