When the Portland Trail Blazers resembled anything close to a winning basketball team last season, Jerami Grant played a critical role. He was the team’s most versatile player and one of it’s most consistent.
If Damian Lillard and/or Anfernee Simons were having an off-night, Grant could pick up the scoring slack, which he did with career-best efficiency. Even if he’s not an All-NBA defender, the 6-foot-8 wing was the best option head coach Chauncey Billups had at his disposal on that end of the floor.
Grant isn’t a perfect player, but he’s a good fit in Portland alongside Lillard and Simons as a long, athletic wing who shot better than 40 percent from three last season. The Blazers could use a few more players in Grant’s mold.
But he’s also an unrestricted free agent who can sign a five-year, $233 million max contract this summer. It’ll be a shock if he sees that amount of cash, but he’s a valuable player who will draw legitimate interest from teams with cap space if the Blazers don’t re-sign him before June 30 and he hits the open market.
Which teams could steal Jerami Grant from the Trail Blazers in free agency?
Houston Rockets
Houston hired former Boston Celtics Head Coach Ime Udoka to try and infuse some accountability into a roster filled with talent, but young talent that hasn’t yet learned how to play NBA basketball.
To that point, the Rockets have been rumored to be in the market for established veterans this summer. James Harden’s potential return to Houston has been rumored for much of 2023, but the team is ready to use its gobs of cap space to make some win-now moves, even if it isn’t Harden.
Jake Fischer of Yahoo!Sports reported that the Rockets were targeting veteran Milwaukee Bucks wing Khris Middleton or Jaylen Brown, Udoka’s former pupil in Boston.
This all part of Houston’s rebuild Phase 2, according to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
If the team can’t land Harden, Middleton, or Brown, Grant would make sense as the next-best option, and Houston certainly has the means – and, it seems, the desire – to outbid the Blazers for their most important free agent.
Detroit Pistons
Grant’s return to Detroit would be more than a homecoming for the 29-year-old. After spending six seasons with Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, and Denver, Grant surprisingly signed a deal with a losing Pistons team.
The goal for Jerami was to prove he was more than just the role player he was at his previous three stops. He wanted to be a go-to offensive option for an NBA franchise.
While Detroit didn’t find any team success, Grant did show his value as more than a simple role player.
In his first season with the Pistons, he averaged 22.3 points in 34 minutes on 17.3 field-goal attempts and 6.1 3-point attempts – all career highs. He wasn’t incredibly efficient, but he displayed a more complete offensive game than he had with the Sixers, Thunder, or Nuggets.
If he did return to Detroit, which was rumored to be a possibility around the trade deadline, it would be to a much better situation – arguably better than the one in Portland.
The Pistons have young building blocks like Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, up-and-coming big men in James Wiseman and Jalen Duren, veteran wing Bojan Bogdanovic, and a 14 percent chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick in June’s draft.
Indiana Pacers
There has been little to no noise out of Indiana since the end of the regular season, but the Pacers might end up as a sneaky player in free agency, and Grant would fill a need in Indiana.
The Pacers are a team on the rise in the Eastern Conference with Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, Myles Turner, and Buddy Hield. Their 35-win season last year wasn’t indicative of the talent on their roster.
Indiana also has four picks in the upcoming draft, including three in the first round and one in the lottery. With around $25 million in expected cap space, Indy can make a splash in free agency, and the team has a need for a forward with Grant’s skill set.
Grant’s versatility, length, and offensive capabilities would fit snugly between Mathurin and Turner in that five-man lineup.
The Pacers might be making moves this summer, and if they make the right ones, they can realistically shoot for at least 45 wins rather than 35.
Portland is still the favorite to sign Grant this offseason. If the Blazers do get out-bid by any of these three teams, they won’t regain any cap space to replace him, which could make the organization desperate. Add this to the list of major summer decisions that need to be made by general manager Joe Cronin.