Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson have been playing against each other since AAU, and they do it again Friday night when Memphis visits Chicago at 8 ET on NBA TV. Boozer went third in the draft. Wilson went fourth.
They are not strangers. They were teammates on Nightrydas Elite, the AAU program that won the 2024 Nike EYBL Peach Jam championship.
The College Game Still Stings for One of Them
On February 7, Wilson scored 23 and North Carolina beat Duke 71-68 on a buzzer-beater. Boozer had 24 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. That is the kind of result that does not fade.
Then Summer League flipped it. On July 10, Memphis beat Chicago 97-96. Boozer put up 23 points and six rebounds. Wilson scored 35 and shot 7-of-11 from three, which is a ridiculous line in a losing effort. Both made the All-Summer League First Team.
So the ledger is split, the sample is deep, and neither player has to pretend this is just another exhibition.
Boozer Has Been the Steadier Pro So Far
Through the preseason Boozer is averaging 13.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists, and he scored 16 on Wednesday. Memphis is 1-1. Four assists a game from a rookie forward is the number that stands out, because it suggests he is already playing within an offense rather than hunting shots.
Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome said Boozer’s “poise” at his age is “just huge,” which is the specific compliment veterans give rookies who do not panic.
Wilson led Chicago with 15 points in a 124-117 win over Phoenix on Wednesday. He called the experience of putting on an NBA uniform “wild,” which is the most honest thing any rookie has said this month.
They Are Not Pretending to Hate Each Other
Boozer said there is “a lot of respect there” between them. Wilson called Boozer “a great player, obviously.” These are friends who happen to be measured against each other for the rest of their careers.
One note on availability: Memphis center Isaiah Stewart was not practicing and was doubtful for this game with a left ankle injury, which means more frontcourt minutes are available for Boozer.
Preseason results are forgettable. Rookie reps against real NBA defenders are not. Both of these players are going to be asked to carry franchises, and Friday is another data point in a comparison that will run for a decade.
The broader point is that this draft class arrived with two forwards who already pass, rebound and defend at an NBA standard. Memphis and Chicago both landed franchise pieces, and the fact that they keep getting matched against each other is a gift to anyone who wants a clean comparison.
Watch the assist numbers over the next two weeks. Whichever of them keeps creating for teammates once defenses start game-planning is the one who ends up with the better career.
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.