The Portland Trail Blazers are set to enter the 2025-26 season with Jerami Grant still on the roster. That's not ideal for the Blazers by any means. However, the fact that Grant is still around makes it clear that they aren't willing to include significant draft capital to move him, which is a wise decision for general manager Joe Cronin at this point in Portland's rebuild.
Last summer, Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian stated that moving one of Grant or Anfernee Simons was "definitely the goal" for the Blazers. One year later, Portland finally accomplished that goal, sending Simons to the Boston Celtics for Jrue Holiday. And it's unsurprising that Simons, not Grant, was the one that Portland ultimately traded.
Keeping Jerami Grant hurts Blazers' future less than trading him
At this point, it's unlikely that Portland will move on from Grant anytime soon. Grant had a disappointing year, averaging 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on inefficient 37/37/85 shooting splits. He also has three years remaining on a massive five-year, $160 million deal. That combination of Grant's contract and declining play makes it hard for Portland to find a trade partner, particularly under the new CBA.
"I haven't heard that anything is close on a Grant trade," Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report recently wrote. "I've thought all summer that his contract was going to be tough to move without attaching draft capital, which they don't want to do. Under the new CBA, it's both logistically harder to move big salaries and harder to find teams wanting to take them on. Between that and Grant, by his own admission, having a down season last year, it's not surprising that he's still on the roster as of now, even if it's not ideal."
Highkin also suggested that the Blazers should bring Grant off the bench, which the internet ran with, and through an inaccurate game of telephone, it became reported as something Portland will do.
It remains to be seen who Chauncey Billups will ultimately decide to start. But what has become apparent is that Grant has quickly become a negative asset for the Blazers, making it even harder to understand a) why the Blazers signed Grant to this contract in the first place, and b) why they didn't trade him when he still had value.
Damian Lillard requested a trade just one day after the Blazers signed Grant, immediately making it clear that Grant no longer matched Portland's rebuilding timeline. Now, it's too late to right the ship unless Portland attaches valuable draft picks to convince another team to take on arguably the worst contract in the association. They won't do that, and rightfully so. But it leaves Portland's roster with a headache financially and in terms of Grant hindering their young core's development.
There's no optimal answer to this pick your poison situation that Cronin got the Blazers into. Portland's best option at this point is to keep Grant around and overpay him in a bench role.