Heading into the Memphis Grizzlies’ matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, the primary focus was the past — namely, the Grizzlies’ first meeting with former franchise superstar Ja Morant, after trading the one-time cornerstone point guard to Portland over the summer. Coming out of the contest, though, the conversation centered on the future — and on the teenage phenom who might make it look awfully bright in Memphis, sooner rather than later.

The book on Cameron Boozer coming out of Duke was that he was a high-floor player who could do a little bit of everything well — someone who might not have quite the superstar ceiling of prospective dominant wing scorers like AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, but who seemed likely to walk into the NBA as someone capable of contributing to winning right away. He’d shown that through the season’s first four games, playing a strong all-around floor game in starter’s minutes at the power forward position for a pleasant surprise of a Grizzlies team that won its first four games; Memphis has turned the ball over less, grabbed a higher share of available offensive and defensive rebounds, and sent opponents to the foul line less frequently with Boozer on the floor.

But even though Memphis was winning his minutes, Boozer had come out of the chute struggling with his shot, going just 11-for-35 from inside the 3-point arc and 7-for-26 beyond it in those first four games — a difficult acclimation to the highest level of the game.

“I would just say I felt a little bit out of rhythm,” Boozer said of his play to start the season. “Obviously, coming away with the win is the biggest thing. For me, I was impacting winning in all those games, but I wanted to play better.”

On Thursday, he did just that:

Boozer was brilliant in Portland, going 6-for-10 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point land en route to 18 points in the Grizzlies’ 124-103 win over the previously undefeated Blazers. The rookie added 12 rebounds and 12 assists in just 28 minutes of work, notching the first triple-double of his NBA career in just his fifth professional game.

"It took him long enough," Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo joked.

At 19 years and 103 days old, Boozer is the second-youngest player in NBA history to put up a triple-double, just behind Josh Giddey, who did so at 19 years and 84 days as a rookie with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2022. Boozer is also just the second player ever to notch a triple-double before ever actually losing an NBA game, according to Opta, joining Oscar Robertson, who did it in his first ever NBA contest. (Naturally.)

Boozer showcased the breadth of his skillset in Thursday’s win, from the ability to face up and drive on defenders from the perimeter to his comfort with initiating offense from up top and acting as a playmaking hub in the middle of the floor against zone defenses. He showed soft touch on high-low lobs to his frontcourt partners, and a smooth shooting stroke as he knocked down spot-up jumpers; he even confidently stepped into triples when Portland’s bigs hung back on him, whether retreating to wall off against the drive or ducking under the screen when Boozer handled the ball in an inverted pick-and-roll.

Of course, the fact that Boozer can run inverted pick-and-rolls with the Grizzlies’ guards screening is evidence of perhaps the most advanced part of his game: his ability to facilitate, process the game at lightning speed, and deliver the ball wherever it should go on a given possession.

He can work either end of the two-man game, showing a capacity to quickly read the floor in the short roll and deliver skip passes to waiting shooters. He can work with his back to the basket, posting up smaller defenders, mapping the floor, drawing help and instantly kicking it to an open man on the weak side. When he clears the defensive glass, he immediately looks up the floor and flings hit-ahead outlet passes that gets the Grizzlies into early offense in transition.

And he does it all fast. Of the 35 players who are averaging at least 65 touches per game, Boozer has the lowest average time per touch, holding onto the ball for just 2.14 seconds before moving it — nearly a half-second faster than Nikola Jokić, long the measuring stick for quick decision-making and fluid offensive distribution.

That combination of skills has made Boozer a plus frontcourt playmaker from the second he stepped onto an NBA court. Boozer has notched the assist on 26.5% of the Grizzlies’ baskets during his time on the floor this season. The only power forward/center types to play at least 100 minutes this season with a higher assist rate than Boozer’s are Jokić, Jayson Tatum, Alperen Şengün, Draymond Green, Domantas Sabonis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Julius Randle — all multi-time All-Star and All-NBA forwards.

Being that good at delivering the ball this young is … well, it’s an anomaly. No 19-year-old big man has ever posted an assist rate above 20% for a full season. The only teens above 6-foot-8 who’ve finished north of 25%? Luka Dončić and LeBron James.

After Thursday’s win, Boozer is averaging 15.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. No rookie has ever averaged 15-10-5 for a full season. Only 24 players of any age ever have. Ten of them are already in the Hall of Fame; the list of those who aren’t includes three active MVPs (Jokić, Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid), a fourth who just retired (Russell Westbrook), and 10 other multi-time All-Star and/or All-NBA selections.

That is obviously very lofty company for any player, let alone one who’s played all of five NBA games. But when you watch the impact that Boozer has already shown himself capable of making, and the way it all came together on Thursday — and then you remember that he won’t even be able to buy a beer for two more years — you start wondering whether Boozer might not be able to raise a hell of a lot more than just the Grizzlies’ floor.

"He's as complete of a player as I've seen and as mature of a rookie as I've seen in the league, too," Grizzlies point guard Ty Jerome, who has turned quite a few heads himself in the season’s opening week, told reporters. "There's nothing he can't do on the basketball court."