Ranking Portland Trail Blazers options with 7th pick in 2022 NBA Draft
By Andy Quach
4. The Portland Trail Blazers trade the pick for a win-now veteran
The Miami Heat have become infamous for trading away their draft picks in return for more established veterans — opting to go with “the devil they know” rather than take gambles in the NBA’s notorious crapshoot. This line of thinking works for a team that’s ready to compete in the immediate future and would likely be looking for a role player in the draft anyways.
The Portland Trail Blazers don’t have that luxury anymore.
In years past, it made sense for the Trail Blazers to trade a late first-round pick in return for some veteran depth to help Damian Lillard lead a title run. But, with the team now stripped of both its depth and top-tier talent, trading that pick for a player wouldn’t move the needle enough to justify losing out on the chance at mining a future star.
For example, John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie at the Athletic reported that there’s a strong possibility that Portland trades the seventh pick in return for Jerami Grant. Earlier in the year, when it was believed that the Trail Blazers would land a late-lottery selection from the New Orleans Pelicans and relay that to the Detroit Pistons for Grant, acquiring his services made much more sense for the Blazers. Adding his two-way prowess to the Blazers along with a top pick in the draft could have made Portland dark-horse contenders, but mortgaging their entire team and a lottery pick for just Grant would be rash and wouldn’t make for a stark improvement from last year’s starting roster.
Jerami Grant would still be a fantastic addition to the roster and a perfect running mate for Dame and Anfernee Simons but keeping the seventh pick in any deal for him needs to be a requirement for Cronin.