The Trail Blazers tore down at the trade deadline but say they’re still trying to win around a 31-year-old Damian Lillard.
How will Portland turn its newfound draft picks (including their own rising through the lottery with Lillard sidelined) and salary-cap flexibility into building back up while Lillard remains in his prime?
Maybe with Pistons forward Jerami Grant.
Shams Charania of The Athletic:
If the New Orleans pick doesn’t land in the 5-14 range necessary for it to convey this year, it loses significant value, becoming the Bucks’ top-four protected 2025 first-rounder (or nothing if not sent by then). The pick has a 67% chance of conveying this year, per Basketball-Reference.
Portland also has its own pick to use in a trade. Perhaps, the tanking Trail Blazers project that pick to land too high to trade for Grant, though.
Grant would fit well in Portland as a defensive forward who can space the floor and has expanded his offense in Detroit. But he reportedly wants to be a primary offensive option in order to sign a contract extension (max: four years, $112,654,080 six months after being traded) with his new team. With only one year left on his contract, Grant has some leverage to pick his destination.
If the Pistons want to trade him at all. Detroit obviously held Grant through the trade deadline of a lost season and might prefer to keep the 28-year-old long-term.
But adding another lottery pick to the young core of Cade Cunningham (20) and Saddiq Bey (22) should at least be tempting.
