The Portland Trail Blazers acquired Ja Morant in a buy-low opportunity in terms of assets surrendered, landing him without having to send draft capital to Memphis. However, CBS Sports' Sam Quinn recently made the case that the Blazers' trade comes with a higher level of risk attached than they realize or admit -- the opportunity cost of bringing Morant in.
Quinn noted that Morant's skill set overlaps with Deni Avdija's downhill game, that he's a poor defensive fit alongside Damian Lillard, and that Portland will eventually need to start Jrue Holiday because of it.
That's already a lot of changes Portland has to take into account, but the bigger concern is the financial impact that deal has on their young core going forward. Quinn even framed it as the offseason that could start Deni Avdija exit rumors, floating around the Dallas Mavericks as a potential suitor in 2028.
Blazers' Ja Morant trade could risk a future Deni Avdija exit
Heading into the offseason, we said that Avdija must be prioritized in any decision Portland makes. Right now, he's the best contract in the league, but the downside is the Blazers will first have to renegotiate his deal to extend off that new figure. It's even harder that it's front-loaded since they take a percentage from the final year, which in Avdija's case is just $11.9 million.
With that lucrative contract looming in Portland, it immediately made Holiday and Jerami Grant trade candidates to shed salary. Well, the Blazers finally got off their negative asset in Grant, but surprisingly took things in the other direction by bringing in an even more expensive Morant, owed $42.2 million and $44.9 million over the next two years.
So Quinn certainly has a case that the Blazers offseason did more harm than good for Avdija. Hopefully, Morant's arrival will benefit him on the court, but that really could go either way. Morant may shrink the floor even further in Portland, but could potentially compensate for that offensively by taking some of the playmaking burden off Avdija.
Regardless of how well Portland does or doesn't mesh this season with all these moving parts, they'll eventually need to consider trading one of Morant or Holiday to give themselves more financial flexibility to retain their newest All-Star.
The fact that he's already been mentioned in these exit talks before the season even starts means the Blazers either need to win games soon or make a trade to sort out this roster. Otherwise, these talks are only going to get louder for a team that has yet to solve its biggest looming problem.
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