The Portland Trail Blazers may not have paid a steep price to land two-time All-Star Ja Morant, sending the Memphis Grizzlies Jerami Grant and Kris Murray without attaching any draft capital. That aligns with the buy-low trade approach new owner Tom Dundon prefers, dating back to his success in turning around the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes.
While that may have recently resulted in a Stanley Cup, Dundon and the Blazers could unfortunately be in for a reality check regarding the Morant deal and the importance of fit in the NBA.
This isn't a cookie-cutter situation where NHL success translates to NBA success, and Portland being the team willing to take on the negative asset that is Ja Morant as the first big "splash" of the Dundon era has to be concerning.
Blazers failed to add shooting around Deni Avdija this summer
This rebuild was on a positive trajectory, even ending its four-year playoff drought last season largely thanks to the ascension of its youth, headlined by Deni Avdija's All-Star breakout. The logical next step is to build on that progress, particularly by surrounding Avdija with more complementary pieces.
He led the league in drives per game, and that transition into more of a point-forward role turned into a huge matchup advantage for Portland. They couldn't fully capitalize, though, as a team that predictably finished near the bottom of the league in three-point percentage.
That's been the case throughout this entire rebuild, which is a fatal flaw in the young core and Portland's draft selections dating back to Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson. General manager Joe Cronin himself even said it was going to be a point of emphasis this offseason, adding that they played too many possessions in the mud in their short playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs.
So naturally, the Blazers go out and get... Ja Morant?
Portland's offense is best with Deni Avdija at point forward
The polarizing guard who just shot 23.5 percent from beyond the arc last season in Memphis?
Some of that may be due to injury, as he's actually a career 31.1 percent three-point shooter. But is it really a good thing that Portland is trading for a player so reliant on his athleticism and downhill attack coming off yet another injury?
Morant may have the star household name, but Blazers fans expecting him to return to star form will likely be disappointed. Injury-prone athletic guards who can't effectively space the floor unfortunately have shorter shelf lives, and Morant's career serves as the latest reminder of that.
Dundon and the Blazers are betting against that, though it's a very low-risk gamble in terms of assets since they moved another negative asset in Grant. Still, for the Blazers, the risk is that Morant's arrival could hurt the progress Portland made.
This team is suddenly hurting for wing depth, moving further away from its established defensive identity, and adding too many guards to the point where it dilutes Avdija's value and what makes him truly special in this league as a point forward. By putting the ball in Morant's hands, Portland could be doing the opposing defenses a favor next season.
In an offseason where All-Star Deni Avdija clearly should've been the priority, it seems like they've contradicted that approach with the Morant deal. It's hard to see how this fits into Cronin's established vision and roster identity, which leads us to believe Dundon's fingerprints were on this one.
New owner syndrome is real, and though the Blazers may not have risked an all-in move that could backfire, unnecessarily bringing in an imperfect-fitting piece like Morant still carries consequences for a roster that was finally starting to make sense with Avdija leading the way.
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