Are Trail Blazers Hoping Jerami Grant's Market Improves After Rival West Forward is Traded?

Could this be why a deal hasn't been made yet for Portland's most obviously movable vet?

Mar 11, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) scores a basket during the first half against Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant (9) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

As the 2024-25 regular season nears, one question above all others is most likely gnawing at Portland Trail Blazers fans paying attention: how long is this clearly tanking team going to hold onto the contract of combo forward Jerami Grant?

The 30-year-old makes no sense as a long-term fit in Portland, and frankly didn't even before Portland strangely inked him to a five-year, $160 million contract extension in the 2023 offseason — before All-Star then-Trail Blazers Damian Lillard demanded to be traded to a contender, and was eventually flipped to the Milwaukee Bucks in a blockbuster deal.

Is that deal a bit too generous to a 3-and-D role player who seems best suited to something of a third-banana offensive role on a contending team, and who is already slipping a bit defensively? Absolutely, but with a massive new television broadcasting rights deal slated to kick in for the 2025-26 season and the NBA's salary cap expected to gradually increase (and Grant's contract locked-in to its current levels), the wing's money won't look too grisly soon enough.

Across just 54 games last year for the 21-61 Blazers, the 6-foot-7 vet logged averages of 21.0 points on a .451/.402/.817 slash line, 3.5 boards, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 rejections a night. That 40.2 percent 3-point clip arrived on 5.1 triple tries a night. He is, by all metrics, the team's best current player. But he is not a part of its future. Portland is banking that at least one of its last three lottery picks — 21-year-old shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe and 20-year-olds Scoot Henderson and Donovan Clingan — will blossom into a foundational, All-Star level player. By the time that happens, Grant will probably be on his next contract.

Despite the aforementioned slightly-too-big contract, Grant is theoretically the kind of player who would slot in well for a variety of franchises, with the Los Angeles Lakers, possessors of two tradable future first round draft picks, being oft-cited as the top team to watch.

Read More: Blockbuster Trade Proposal Sends Blazers' Jerami Grant to Lakers

So why is he still in Portland, especially with All-Star forwards Paul George and Lauri Markkanen now off the table for rival clubs?

New Orleans Pelicans combo forward Brandon Ingram, a 2020 All-Star, could be ahead of Grant in the league's trade-wishcasting hierarchy. Ingram is the better playmaker and shot creator, and an elite scorer, although Grant has the defensive edge. At just 27 and boasting an impressive stat line of 20.8 points on .492/.355/.801 shooting splits, 5.7 dimes and 5.1 boards as the second-best player for a 49-win Pelicans squad in 2023-24, Ingram feels like the next domino to fall, one way or another. But Grant is likely the next trade chip in the offing once Ingram moves on from New Orleans, where his defensive liabilities have made him an at-times uncomfortable fit next to All-Star New Orleans forward Zion Williamson.

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