Lakers Warned Against ‘Unwise’ Trade of Rui Hachimura for $160 Million Star

Getty Lakers forward Rui Hachimura

For the Lakers, the hopes for a splashy move here in the NBA offseason quickly faded against the reality that the team is utterly lacking in financial flexibility and that there is not much appetite for the prospect of trading the two remaining available first-round picks—in 2029 and 2031—the team has on hand. It could well be that the Lakers as we see them will be the Lakers that open the 2024-25 season.

One possibility is lingering, and should come back around once the NBA trade market gets heated back up, which is likely to happen this week when Lauri Markkanen of the Jazz makes a decision on signing an extension: Trail Blazers star Jerami Grant.

There is a lot of logic to bringing Grant to L.A. He is of little use to the rebuilding Blazers and is in the second season of a five-year, $160 million contract. He should be easy enough for the Lakers to acquire. Except one thing: He just might not be a very good fit, especially if it costs them Rui Hachimura in a deal.

“If they get Grant, I am not sure they are that much better as a team,” one NBA executive said. “It’s a bad contract. He’s a good shooter but he is not a very good defender. I am not sure he is that much better than Rui, so if you’re giving up Rui and a draft pick? I can’t see making that move. It’s making a trade just for the sake of making a trade, and that’s always unwise.”

Lakers Got Good Production From Rui Hachimura

Hachimura was very good for the Lakers last year, averaging 13.6 points on 53.7% shooting and 42.2% 3-point shooting. At 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, he is bigger than Grant (6-foot-7, 210), though neither is built to be a pure power forward. Still, that would be Grant’s spot if he were a Laker.

Grant, a client of Klutch Sports—the Rich Paul-led agency that also reps LeBron James and fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis—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.

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.

To make a deal for Grant work, the Lakers would almost certainly have to include the $17 million on Hachimura’s deal for 2024-25 to match up with Grant’s annual number ($30 million). The Blazers would want more—they’re said to be seeking two first-rounders for Grant, a price the Lakers would not pay.

Jerami Grant Would Be a Third Option

While Grant has posted some impressive numbers in recent years—he has averaged at least 19.2 points each of the last four seasons—he has done so on bad teams, in Detroit and in Portland. Neither team earned a playoff berth with Grant on board.

On a good team, he might land right around the production that the Lakers are already getting from Hachimura.

“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 executive said. “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.”