Trail Blazers News: Ideal Lakers Trade Return in Possible Jerami Grant Deal

Neither team has made a standard signing in summer free agency. Are they waiting for trades?

Apr 16, 2023; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) and guard D'Angelo Russell (1) react with guard Austin Reaves (15) during the second half during game one of the 2023 NBA playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports / Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Along with the Utah Jazz, the Portland Trail Blazers are clearly poised to be the cream of the Western Conference crop when it comes to tanking in 2024-25. With a clear prize in their sights — incoming Duke forward Cooper Flagg and the rest of the supposedly-loaded 2025 NBA Draft class — it would behoove the team to be as present-day bad as possible. With that in mind, perhaps Portland should look to trade its top players in their present-day prime in exchange for more future draft equity.

With word that the Los Angeles Lakers, for one, are very interesting in acquiring stretch four Jerami Grant (as well they should be), it appears that there is a major hiccup in the possible deal.

During a fresh episode of his podcast "Buha's Block", Jovan Buha of The Athletic revealed that the Trail Blazers absolutely do not want the player the Lakers have been trying to trade since even before the team re-signed him to a second contract in free agency last summer: starting point guard D'Angelo Russell. Keep in mind, Los Angeles also has traded the 6-foot-3 Ohio State product once before, to the Brookly Nets in 2017. Buha cites an abundance of already-rostered Blazers guards, whom the team must see as high-upside keepers.

Read More: Trail Blazers Reportedly Almost Landed Multiple First-Round Picks For Jerami Grant

Last year, Russell averaged 18.0 points on a .456/.415/.828 slash line, 6.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks across 76 regular season contests (69 starts), but saw that hyper-efficient offensive output once again fall apart in the playoffs, for the third straight season. Across five quick games against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, Russell averaged 14.2 points while slashing .384/.318/.500, 4.2 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 steals a night.

Because of Russell's contract and the Lakers' obvious lack of interest in keeping him around (Austin Reaves and LeBron James could take on a bit more of a playmaking burden in the absence of a true starting-caliber point guard, as could his backup, Gabe Vincent), he makes lots of sense from the Lakers' side of the equation. If Portland can extract one or both of L.A.'s two movable future first round draft picks, adding Russell back might be a worthwhile endeavor.

From a Portland perspective, of course, Russell doesn't make a lot of present-day sense. If his addition were to guarantee both future Lakers picks, ideally with light protections (perhaps top-10 lottery protections), it might be worth making.

Grant is owed $29.8 million in 2024-25. Russell makes $18.7 million next season, so his money alone along with just a pair of future picks wouldn't be enough to get a deal done for a capped-out Blazers squad. Los Angeles would still need to throw in the contract of a Gabe Vincent or Jarred Vanderbilt to make the money work.

In terms of fit and upside, combo forward Rui Hachimura, a much more intriguing young player with a decent jumper who can defend both power forwards and centers, would be a better fit for the Trail Blazers. However, he's actually a valuable player, while Russell is more of a salary-matching piece (a decent regular season player who consistently crumbles in the postseason on both ends). His addition would probably compel the Lakers to amend their pick protections, perhaps making both assets entirely lottery-protected.

Would Hachimura be worth that kind of investment for the Trail Blazers? There's no way Austin Reaves is on the table. In terms of that second piece, Vanderbilt is a more intriguing asset, albeit a win-now one, so he'd make more sense to acquire, in order to be flipped again.

Moving Jerami Grant for two future lottery-protected draft picks, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt (assuming Vanderbilt is moved later) could be a great scenario for L.A.

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