According to Shams Charania; league sources told RealGM, the Memphis Grizzlies have explored center Greg Oden, expressing interest in the recent past with a workout in the spring, and potentially bringing in the former No. 1 overall NBA pick to a free-agent camp in June.
RealGM Sources: Memphis Grizzlies exploring center Greg Oden, the 2007 No. 1 overall NBA pick. https://t.co/MmRs4uRwVF
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 30, 2015
Shams Charania, also states that the Grizzlies’ current level of interest in Oden remains unclear, but the franchise is believed to be having a free-agent mini-camp in the upcoming weeks — like many organizations around the NBA. Oden is undecided in his possible participation there.
Oden’s close friend and former coach Thad Matta previously told reporters the former center could make another run at an NBA comeback. Matta said Oden has been doing “high-level training” with Ohio State coaches for the past six months.
“Quite honestly, I haven’t seen Greg look this good since when he played for us back in the day at Ohio State,”
Matta said.
“His attitude is off the charts. He went through a lot. You look at Greg’s life, how difficult things have been. I know that he is a kid that never wanted to let people down. The injuries, you know, none of us can prevent those. I know there’s part of him that wishes that stuff couldn’t have happened. I still swear he was going to be one of the greatest to ever play in the NBA just from the year I was with him.”
Greg Oden has gone through a very emotional and physically painful journey throughout his NBA career, and there were times where it was hard to figure out whether we would see this former No. 1 overall NBA pick play again. Oden has struggled with a lot of injuries and appeared in only 105 games over three seasons from 2008 to 2014. The 7-foot center spent only one season with Ohio State, the 2006–07 campaign in which the Buckeyes lost to Florida in the national championship.
