The Portland Trail Blazers have moved on from key veterans this summer, including starters Anfernee Simons and Deandre Ayton. The one player they seem to be stuck with heading into the 2025-26 season is Jerami Grant.
The Blazers are officially stuck with Jerami Grant
Grant still has three years remaining of his head-scratching five-year, $160 million contract. He's also coming off a down season, averaging 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists on 37/37/85 shooting splits.
Grant is a bit of a one-dimensional player -- surprisingly, he's a poor rebounder, given his 6-foot-7 frame, and he doesn't offer much as a playmaker. His value came in the form of scoring, which was problematic considering he shot 37.3% from the field. The combination of Grant's massive contract, declining play, and the new CBA makes him a negative asset.
It's likely that the only way to offload Grant would be to attach future assets as a sweetener, but the rebuilding Blazers understandably aren't willing to go to that extreme to dump someone who is still a solid player (contract and last season aside).
Chauncey Billups should bring Grant off the bench
The silver lining is that Grant is bound for positive regression in the 2025-26 season. But even taking that into consideration, it would be in Portland's best interest for Chauncey Billups to bring Grant off the bench.
Portland seemingly has three players solidified as starters entering the season: Donovan Clingan, Toumani Camara, and Deni Avdija. If that is the case, Billups has a difficult decision to make regarding who gets the final two spots: Grant, Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, or Shaedon Sharpe.
With Henderson and Sharpe's inevitable growing pains, it's possible that a starting unit that includes veterans Holiday and Grant will be their best short-term solution to win as many games as possible next season. However, the issue with that approach is that we already know exactly how good that unit is -- their ceiling isn't high enough to contend, especially in the Western Conference.
The Blazers want to win now, but they want to win because of their youth. They made the win-now trade for Holiday as a bet on their young core, which took significant strides towards the end of last season. To start Grant would be placing a giant and unnecessary roadblock in the developmental path of Portland's youth, going against the purpose of these long rebuilding seasons fans have endured the past four years.