Folsom grad Wells drafted by Grizzlies

With the 39th pick in the NBA Draft held June 26-27, the Memphis Grizzlies selected Jaylen Wells, a 6-8 wing from Washington State. A year ago, Wells was probably the least known of all the players who got drafted this year, but oh, what a difference a year makes. To say that Wells was a late bloomer is true. As a freshman attending Folsom High, Wells was 5-8, a full foot shorter than he stands today. He grew to 5-11 as a sophomore and to 6-2 as a junior before reaching 6-6 as a senior. He entered the school as the height of a point guard and as a senior was still playing the point. "Being short most of my career, I had to be a guard," Wells said. "As a senior, I was still playing point. The guard skills that I had learned and practiced growing up I had to use while still adjusting to my new height. I became a more versatile threat, now that I could use my height and my length." Wells had offers from two schools coming out of Folsom High, Sonoma State and Western Oregon, and he chose to attend Sonoma State. In retrospect, Wells said it was one of the best decisions of his career. "I attended Sonoma State for two years and then transferred to Washington State," Wells said. "I loved my time at Sonoma State. "It helped me grow as a player and a leader, on and off the court, and it also helped me grow as a person. It's one of the best decisions I've made in my career. "As a freshman, we weren't very successful as a team, but I developed a lot that year and created myself a bigger offensive role as the season continued. My sophomore year I averaged 22 points per game and won Player of the Year and was an All-American." From there Wells made the moved to Washington State. In his one season there, things started slowly, but by January, Wells was in the starting lineup. "Things went great at Washington State," Wells said. "I started off not playing that much, as I had to find my role. I just kept working and waiting for an opportunity. My first start was against USC with Lebron courtside. I played really well in that game and never looked back." Wells helped lead the team to a second-place finish in the conference to Arizona and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Washington State defeated Drake in the opening round of the tournament before losing to Iowa State. "March Madness was crazy," Wells said. "You grow up watching it every year and we weren't even expected to be there and we won our first game. It was a crazy experience in that environment." After participating in some pre-draft workouts, Wells figured he would be drafted, so it wasn't s surprise to him when his name was called. "I'm excited to be drafted, I mean it's definitely a surreal feeling," Wells said. "I'm blessed to be in this position. It's always been a dream. I didn't take a traditional path to the NBA, but it's not how you start, it's how you finish." Better yet, Wells was happy to be drafted by the Grizzlies. "I'm not surprised they drafted me," he said. "I had a pretty good workout with them. I liked all the people there and I'm definitely glad they picked me. After being selected, Wells flew to Memphis for a press conference and photo shoot and then had dinner with the staff. He'll return to Memphis this week to practice with the team before going to Utah's summer camp from July 8-10. After that he will attend the summer camp in Las Vegas from July 12-22. Wells' coach at Folsom High, Mike Wall, was very happy for his former player. "Hard work and faith in yourself often pays off and you love to see it rewarded," Wall said. "Jaylen was thrown a lot of curve balls in his journey and his answer was always to work harder. In that way, he and Jordan Ford have a lot in common in their approach in the way they went about training and improving and their grow mindset of how to get better and to keep moving forward. They both also have a great set of parents that were a big influence on how they handled things. "I'm super proud of Jalen and his ability to get through COVID, bet on himself by going to the portal and then bet on himself by going to the combine. In the end he worked really hard and took advantage of his God-given gifts." Wall and his Folsom team participated in the California Live '24 tournament at The Grounds in Roseville over the weekend and Wells and Ford were there. A lot of college coaches were asking about Ford and Wells. "A lot of college coaches were asking all kinds of character questions and I really appreciated being able to talk to them and just gushing about players like Jordan and Jaylen instead of having to dodge or measure what I had to say. I never had to worry about the answers and what I was going to say. I appreciated Jaylen and Jordan's good guys win approach. Jaylen was a great teammate and a good role model for the other kids and he's somebody you want to root for."