Getty Lakers GM Rob Pelinka is trying to find a trade to bolster his roster.
Well, we have moved on to the portion of the summer in which the Lakers are left to pick over the carrion left on the bones of the NBA transaction wire. The trade market is their only hope, and within that market, their only hope yet could be the Portland Trail Blazers.
You know, the 21-61 Trail Blazers, the worst team in the Western Conference.
The Lakers have an interest in Blazers forward Jerami Grant, a sensible fit for the team and one Portland would no doubt be willing to trade. But he is the kind of player, too, who has two very different levels of value—one being what the Lakers would be willing to give up for him and the other being what the Blazers want.
This could come down to a staring contest between Lakers GM Rob Pelinka and his counterpart in Portland, Joe Cronin.
And as one Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports, “I think that it would come down to desperation vs. desperation in a trade for him.”
Jerami Grant Struggled With Injuries
Grant, a client of Klutch Sports—the Rich Paul-led agency that also reps LeBron James and fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis—is probably as well known for this contract as his production. He averaged 21.0 points on 45.1% shooting last year, with a remarkably low rebound total (3.5 per game) for a power forward. He struggled with injuries, playing just 54 games for the lowly Blazers.
But Grant has become a 3-point marksman, shooting 40.1% from the arc on 5.7 attempts in 2022-23 and making 40.2% on 5.1 attempts last year. His average of 2.1 made 3s per game would have tied him with James for No. 2 on the Lakers last season. It’s a skillset the Lakers certainly need.
It’s not a great time to be selling on Grant, beginning with his injury issues last year. There’s also the fact that Portland took the odd step last summer of signing Grant to a major new contract worth $160 million over five years early last offseason, just before Damian Lillard sought a trade and Portland headed into a rebuilding program.
The Lakers look at that trade situation and think they’re helping Portland out if they take on the remainder of Grant’s contract.
The Blazers look at that trade situation and think they’re sending the Lakers and asset, and want to be compensated accordingly.
Lakers Won’t Give Up 2 First-Rounders to Portland
Here’s how the executive put it:
“Jerami Grant can play, he is a shooter, he is a good, active defender when he is engaged, he is going to do a lot of things that help your team. But he is a third option. He has some big numbers the last few years, but he has done it on terrible teams. No one is going to make a big trade for a guy who gives you 20 (points) on a bad team and 13 (points) on a good one.
“Not with his contract. He is going to make $30 (million) next year $32 the year after that. Then he has two more years. You can’t pay your third option $34, 35 million. If Portland wants the Lakers, the Heat, any of these teams to take him, they’ve got to recognize that.”
The Lakers, then, would see acquiring Grant as being a salary dump for the Blazers. They’d give up D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt for Grant, and maybe some second-rounders. The Lakers can trade two future first-round picks, in 2029 and 2031, but would not give up either for Grant.
The Blazers? The approach is they’re trading a star and want both Lakers picks. Perhaps as the summer wears on, the Blazers wil have no choice but to recognize that.
“They’re stubborn,” the exec said of the Blazers. “Part of the job is to be stubborn, though. But part of the job is also seeing your mistakes and getting out of them. Grant was a mistake. Trading him now just to get out of that salary is the right thing to do, take whatever picks or young guys you can get.”