Sports
NBA Rumors: Jerami Grant Expected to Be Shopped by Blazers After Damian Lillard Trade – Bleacher Report
The Portland Trail Blazers may already be looking to move on from Jerami Grant.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported the Blazers are expected to explore trading Grant when he becomes eligible Jan. 15. Portland signed the veteran forward to a five-year, $160 million contract in July.
Signing Grant to such an exorbitant deal did not make much sense at the time. There was already palpable rumblings about Damian Lillard wanting out of Portland, and he confirmed his desire for an exit within 24 hours of the Blazers announcing Grant’s new contract.
While Grant is a quality starter at the 3, he’s a non-All-Star now signed to a contract averaging $32 million a season through his 34th birthday. The amount of teams that will be interested in trading for Grant will be few and far between based on the contract alone. It’s a virtual certainty the best the Blazers will be able to do is a contract dump of a deal they signed months ago.
Grant’s signing was perhaps the single oddest of the offseason, and it doesn’t look any better as the Blazers embark on a rebuild.
Portland, for the time being, will be a better team than expected. Grant, Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton and Anfernee Simons is a solid enough core for the Blazers to stay competitive this season, all while likely keeping the value of Holiday and Ayton in particular ripe for trade talks.
That said, there are simply not many positives to find in handing Grant that contract at this point.
