Jerami Grant's resurgent 2025-26 season gives the Portland Trail Blazers a golden opportunity to finally offload his massive contract by the Feb. 5 trade deadline. While it will still be challenging to find a team willing and able to take on his $32 million salary midseason, one team has emerged as a potential trade partner: the Milwaukee Bucks.
NBA insider Jake Fischer recently reported on The Stein Line that Grant has been mentioned as a possible target for Milwaukee (subscription required).
"Brooklyn's Porter, Sacramento's Zach LaVine, Cleveland's De'Andre Hunter, Portland's Jerami Grant and Charlotte's Miles Bridges have all been mentioned as potential targets, but the Bucks' lack of available draft capital to sweeten trade offers has clearly complicated the search for reinforcements."
Blazers could dump Jerami Grant to the Bucks
The Bucks reek of desperation to make a move at the deadline to get Giannis Antetokounmpo more help and convince him to stay. Their trade options are limited, given their lack of future assets -- in part thanks to Portland's lopsided Damian Lillard deal. The Blazers have the Bucks' 2029 first-round pick and swaps in 2028 and 2030. That could result in them being willing to overlook Grant's contract to upgrade their roster around Giannis.
But as Fischer notes, the fact that Portland benefits from Milwaukee's seemingly inevitable downfall complicates negotiations.
"Another issue Milwaukee has faced: Why would a team like Portland (which benefits from the Bucks' struggles because of the Milwaukee draft capital it holds) or Brooklyn (which might still be tempted to make its own trade run at Giannis) want to help the Bucks in the short term by sending them a win-now player?"
With the way he's played this season, sending Grant over to Milwaukee would undoubtedly improve the Bucks' short-term outlook. That said, it could still be in Portland's best interest despite its connection to Milwaukee.
The Bucks are having an underwhelming season, sitting 11th in a weak Eastern Conference with an 18-26 record. To make matters worse, Giannis said himself that he expects to miss four to six weeks after suffering a right calf injury in their loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Grant isn't the needle mover to get this flawed roster into contention status, and his expensive contract will only make it that much more difficult for the Bucks to upgrade their roster going forward.
In that sense, this is a win-win move for Portland. They finally fix their Grant mistake, only to worsen the Bucks' long-term outlook in the process.