ESPN's Zach Kram recently ranked the worst moves each NBA team has made in the past decade. The Portland Trail Blazers came in at No. 27 in the tier of small-scale problems. Their worst move? Inking Jerami Grant to a head-scratching deal of five years and $160 million back in 2023.
"Grant's contract hasn't gotten in the way of any other Trail Blazers moves yet -- but with the Blazers rising, Jrue Holiday's hefty deal now in the fold and Grant still owed another $102.6 million over the next three seasons, it might soon prove a tricky roster-building obstacle," wrote Kram.
Blazers' Jerami Grant problem is worse than people realize
For context, the Philadelphia 76ers came in at No. 10 for committing $399 million to Paul George and Joel Embiid. Analysts love dumping on the 76ers for their bad deals, but the Blazers and general manager Joe Cronin seem to get a relative pass. Portland should've been right in that second tier of "too high a cost for too little reward" along with Philadelphia.
With Bradley Beal now signing with the Clippers on a team-friendly two-year, $11 million deal, Grant has become the worst contract in the entire league. His $160 million contract is the definition of too high a cost for too little reward.
At the time, part of that reward could've potentially included Damian Lillard deciding to stay in Portland, as the Blazers were straddling timelines and seemingly signing Grant in an attempt to appease Lillard with a somewhat competitive roster. That clearly wasn't enough to entice him to stay, with Lillard requesting a trade just one day later.
The timing of it all made Grant's massive deal even more questionable. With Portland deciding to keep the No. 3 overall pick in 2023 and select Scoot Henderson, they were committing to a rebuild around Scoot and recent top ten pick Shaedon Sharpe. Having a veteran like Grant on the books for such a long-term deal contradicted the Blazers' rebuilding timeline -- an issue that is unfortunately still prevalent in Portland years later.
Making the contract even worse is Grant's rapidly declining production. This past season, he averaged just 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting an inefficient 37.3 percent from the field.
The Blazers can afford to be on the books for Grant's salary thanks to several other rookie-scale deals, but this is only going to become more of a hindrance when those players are set for extensions, while Grant's age and annual salary only continue to rise.
In some ways, having Grant on the roster has already become problematic for Portland, as he's taking a valuable starting spot away from players like Sharpe, whom Portland should be investing more into.
It's understandable that Grant is still on the roster at this point, as it wouldn't make sense for the Blazers to attach draft capital just to offload him. But it's clear that he's become a negative asset -- one that Portland held onto for too long and never should've re-signed in the first place.