MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) -The Grizzlies 2025 draft class has officially arrived at their new home. #11 overall pick Cedric Coward, plus second rounders Javon Small and Jahmai Mashack were introduced at a press conference at FedExForum on Friday afternoon.
All three of them have taken vastly different journeys to get to this point. However, one thing the newest Beale Street Bears all have in common: They’re not cubs, they’re dogs.
“That’s what got us here,” Coward says of that mentality. “But at the same time, all three of us, we’re not afraid to be different. Like not everybody gets that dog title, and you don’t give it to everybody for a reason.
“I mean to be able to hear Zach (Kleiman) say that we have that title, all our job is to continue that.”
Three years ago, Coward was finishing up a season playing Division-III basketball at Willamette University in Oregon.
Now, he’s a lottery pick in the NBA.
“I won’t say it’s super hard to believe, because like me personally, I always believed in myself,” Coward said Friday. “I might’ve been crazy or delusional to some people three years ago, but at the same time, this was always the end goal in terms of where I wanted to play last, which was the NBA.”
Small played for three schools in four years, finishing at West Virginia. After falling to #48 in the draft, he has something to prove.
“Just sticking to whatever got us here, playing with that chip on your shoulder,” Small says of his mindset. “Me personally, I’ve never really been picked first, second, probably not even third.
“So, always kind of felt like I’ve got something to prove on the court.”
Mashack, the last pick of the draft out of Tennessee, was maybe the best perimeter defender in the entire class.
The former Vol might have the toughest job of them all: Uniting Memphis and Knoxville.
“Yeah that’s what I’ve been hearing, I’ve been hearing that’s my job I guess,” said Mashack with a laugh. “If you ask a lot of people that know me and have seen my journey through Tennessee, they have no doubt in their mind that I’m going to do whatever I can to be successful and be the winner I know I can be.”
Next up is Summer League. It’s still TBD if Coward will play or not as he finishes up recovery from a shoulder injury last season. However, Small and Mashack definitely will play, and now permanent head coach Tuomas Iisalo will coach the team at Summer League, which starts in Salt Lake City on July 5.
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