The Los Angeles Lakers have actively pursued Portland Trail Blazers star forward Jerami Grant. But they balked at the cost of acquiring the ideal frontcourt help for Lakers stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
According to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report, the Blazers’ asking price for Grant is the Lakers’ 2029 and 2031 first-round draft picks.
LA Daily’s Anthony Irwin reported the Lakers have been unwilling to meet that price.
“League sources cite his contract and potential reluctance to take on a lesser role on a winning team as concerns for why the Lakers and other teams haven’t wanted to meet that price,” Irwin wrote.
The 30-year-old Grant is entering the second season of a five-year deal worth $160 million with a $36.4 million player option for the 2027-28 season.
A 36.4% career 3-point shooter and a reliable 20-point scorer over the last seasons with the Trail Blazers, the 6-foot-7 Grant is the ideal complementary player for the Lakers, who can create offense and play defense.
Grant’s 7-foot-3 wingspan and his athleticism would be a boon to JJ Redick’s effort to surround James and Davis with two-way players, who can also knock down outside shots.
But Grant left the Denver Nuggets after the 2019-20 season because he wanted to be more than just a complementary player. So he became a focal point in bad teams in Detroit and the post-Damian Lillard era in Portland.
But if the Trail Blazers lower their asking price to a package built around one of the Lakers first-round picks and Rui Hachimura, then a deal could be made, according to Highkin.
Blazers Are ‘Stubborn’
According to a rival Western Conference executive, who spoke with Heavy’s Sean Deveney, the Blazers are “stubborn.”
“Part of the job is to be stubborn, though,” the league executive told Deveney. “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.”
The Blazers extended Grant to his current lucrative contract right before Lillard demanded a trade out of Portland last year.
“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,” the league executive said. “But he is a third option. He has had some big numbers in 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 and $32 (million) 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.”
Rob Pelinka Breaks Silence on Lakers’ Quiet Offseason
During their rookies Bronny James and Dalton Knecht‘s introductory press conference, Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka addressed their quiet offseason.
“We’re going to always be aggressive to trying to make roster upgrades and we’ll be relentless to continue to look at what we can do,” Pelinka told reporters.
But he also noted they are also being cautious because of the new, punitive Collective Bargaining Agreement that restricts teams who reach the first and second aprons on what they can do to build out their rosters.
“If the right deal comes and we have to put in draft picks, we will,” Pelinka told reporters. “We are now in the apron world.”
Pelinka cited contending teams losing players, which is a result of the new CBA.
The Nuggets lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Paul George left the Lakers’ crosstown rivals Clippers because both teams were trying to get under the second apron.
“That’s a result of the apron world we’re living in,” Pelinka said. “So does it make trades more challenging? Yes! Does it make good trades impossible? No! So we’ll continue to pursue upgrades to our roster.”
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Lakers Unwilling to Meet Asking Price for $160 Million Trade Target: Report