WSU's Coward selected No. 11 by Grizzlies in NBA draft

Jun. 26—Three years ago, Washington State's Cedric Coward was a Division III basketball player. Today, he is an NBA draft pick.

With the 11th pick of the 2025 NBA draft, Coward went to the Memphis Grizzlies by way of the Portland Trail Blazers' selection.

With that, Coward joins former Cougar Jaylen Wells in Memphis. Wells, a 2024 pick, just completed an NBA All-Rookie season with the Grizzlies.

The pick ties with NBA legend Klay Thompson for the highest drafted Coug in NBA history and it marks the first time since 1970-72 that WSU has had players selected in three consecutive NBA drafts.

"Even though it was a short season and unfortunately I did get hurt, I appreciated all my time there, all the battles with my guys," Coward said of his time at WSU during a red carpet interview before the draft. "Everything there was absolutely incredible. I'll be back in Pullman soon. I still gotta get my stuff. ... Coach (David) Riley and them, they've got it in good hands out there."

Coward, who saw his NBA draft stock grow by the day, emerged from the green room in New York to shake Commissioner Adam Silver's hand when he heard his name called.

His longtime college coach, Riley, who also coached him at Eastern Washington, made the trip to New York to celebrate Coward's achievement.

The 6-foot-6 guard/forward is the fifth former Coug active in the NBA, joining four-time NBA champion Thompson (Dallas Mavericks), Mouhamed Gueye (Atlanta Hawks) and the two key contributors from the Cougars' 2024 NCAA Tournament run, Isaac Jones (Sacramento Kings) and Wells.

"What Washington State has done the last three or four years is pretty special," Riley said in a Monday news conference. "Really cool stories and I think Washington State is a place where you can achieve your dreams."

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Jones and Wells made their NBA debuts last season.

Riley found Coward at NCAA Division III Willamette while coaching at EWU and brought Coward to Cheney. There, Coward impressed in his sophomore season off the bench before starting all 34 games his junior year and earning first-team All-Big Sky honors.

"It's really cool to be a part of it," Riley said. "I'm grateful that I've got a job that allows me to help people achieve their dreams. I was able to help him; he did all the work, he put himself out there, he was the one who was mentally tough enough to do this."

Coward joined three of his EWU teammates in following their head coach and his staff 90 minutes south to Pullman last season. Coward played just six games as a Coug during the 2024-25 campaign before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

Prior to the injury, Coward posted 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.

After a season at WSU, Coward entered the transfer portal and committed to Duke, making it clear that he would continue to explore the NBA draft waters. What he found convinced him to jump fully into the prospect pool.

Through a positive showing at the NBA draft combine, NBA teams voted Coward among the top 25 players most likely to hear their names called during the first round and thus earn an invite to the draft.

Riley said that Coward has made jumps every offseason and had a ton of NBA scouts' eyes on him last summer, into the fall and during the first six games of the season.

"Unfortunately for the Cougar fans and for us on the team last year, it would have been nice to have him and would have been nice for the world to see the jump that he took," Riley said. "Fortunately for him, it didn't mess up his stock because those NBA guys — they were scouting him and doing their jobs."

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.