The Portland Trail Blazers made their first big trade under new owner Tom Dundon when they surprisingly took a flier on polarizing Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant.
The fact that Portland only had to surrender Jerami Grant and Kris Murray with no draft capital attached is telling about how badly Morant's value has taken a hit around the league. It's not just Morant; we've seen it with offense-minded guards like Trae Young and even former Blazer Anfernee Simons.
But to Dundon, this presented an opportunity to buy low on a distressed asset, a similar blueprint that just recently led to his NHL Carolina Hurricanes hoisting the Stanley Cup. But by Dundon's own admission, he's still figuring out the differences when it comes to navigating the NBA.
We've seen that with the Blazers being in the headlines for just about all the wrong reasons this season, most notably cutting staff among other controversial cost-cutting measures. We've also seen them in relocation talks as things don't seem to be getting much better between Dundon's Blazers and the City of Portland regarding the Moda Center.
Still, when it was first reported that Dundon had ultimately been the one to purchase the Blazers, the narrative seemed to be that he's willing to spend on his players and has a proven track record of winning.
In fact, we didn't even know the cost-cutting measures would be bad quite to this extent, because it's something the NBA hasn't quite seen before. It could even risk setting a precedent for other NBA owners to follow suit because Dundon took the first hit and negative publicity.
So hopefully, the Blazers can benefit from Dundon's arrival from a roster-building perspective, because things have been going worse than expected in other areas.
Ja Morant move aligns with Tom Dundon's buy-low trade strategy
It seems like a more rare situation where a first-year owner and first-year head coach are joining a playoff team. It's at least promising that Dundon didn't suffer from new owner syndrome, the disease that the Phoenix Suns are still recovering from after Mat Ishbia's aggressive arrival, headlined by the Kevin Durant trade that ultimately backfired.
The Morant trade won't be an era-defining mistake by Dundon. The Blazers didn't give up a single future asset for that to be the case. You can make a case that the Morant deal does come with risks of its own, like the opportunity cost of pushing Scoot Henderson and Scoot Henderson further down the hierarchy, or potentially taking the ball out of Deni Avdija's hands.
But considering they (finally) moved a negative asset in Grant for a negative asset in Morant, who has far higher upside at the off chance he returns to his two-time All-Star form, Dundon determined the pros outweighed the cons.
This was still a low-risk, high-reward decision. It may not seem like it now because Portland never made a follow-up move to this surprising trade with Memphis, but this has the potential to be a franchise-altering offseason because of this Morant deal.
If the trade doesn't work out, they're in a similar position as before, looking ahead to a future with continued growth of their young core and valuable Milwaukee Bucks draft capital to look forward to.
But if Dundon's first big-name trade turns out to be an actual splash, it will have quite the ripple effect in Portland.
For one, it makes Sharpe and Henderson far likelier to become trade candidates as the season progresses. It also suggests that Portland could trade Jrue Holiday, seeing as one of Morant or Holiday could potentially be dealt to help renegotiate and extend Avdija.
Then there's the matter of how you fit Morant and Avdija as the team's offensive playmakers going forward. That adds another layer of complexity as both prefer to drive with the ball in their hands. In that case, it could make sense to pursue more 3-and-D specialists, making players like Sharpe more expendable but increasing the value of Toumani Camara as such an elite role player.
Ja Morant trade could lead to a brand new Blazers backcourt
If the Morant experiment actually works out in Portland and he becomes another building block, they could have four of their potential future starting five between Morant, Camara, Avdija, and Donovan Clingan. At least the positional versatility of Camara and Avdija gives Portland the chance to look anywhere between shooting guard to power forward to find its fifth player.
Henderson could even have an opportunity to earn that final spot thanks to his expanding off-ball game. But ultimately, this seems like a team still in need of that superstar to surpass Avdija as its go-to option.
How do Morant and Avdija's overlapping downhill games fit into these plans if they become the secondary and tertiary options? That's why, while Portland has positional flexibility, it must be highly selective in finding a go-to player who can also fit alongside Morant and Avdija.
It doesn't appear to be any of their current roster options. Holiday is aging and expensive. Lillard is aging, coming back from a torn Achilles, and a defensive liability alongside Morant. Sharpe doesn't provide enough defense or shooting to scale down his role within this starting unit. Henderson hasn't shown enough consistently to feel confident in him as a starting option on a contender, hence the trade for Morant in the first place.
Just a few years ago, the debate in Portland's rebuild was whether to build around Anfernee Simons or recent top ten picks in Sharpe and Henderson. Simons finally has his chance to win with a contender now that he's teaming up with LeBron James in Philadelphia. Sharpe and Henderson could reasonably be next on the move.
The Blazers are in the midst of a roster reconstruction, and Morant could end up being the turning point should they pivot away from their previously drafted backcourt options.
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