When Jerami Grant was included in the Ja Morant trade, nobody thought much of it. In fact, it’s widely agreed upon that Portland won the deal by a landslide value-wise. Grant’s a solid NBA player, but he wasn’t important enough to the Trail Blazers for them to pass up on the Morant swing.
All of a sudden, though, with the way the Blazers’ rotation is shaping up, a Jerami Grant-sized hole in the lineup has been unearthed. The team is short on wing depth, bench scoring, and three-point shooting—exactly what Grant brings to the table.
The Blazers’ rotation would make more sense with Jerami Grant in it
It’s pretty clear who is going to start at forward for the Blazers this year: Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara. Off the bench, though, things get muddy. After the Shaedon Sharpe injury, the candidates for the backup three and four spots are Vit Krejci, Sidy Cissoko, Jeremy Sochan, and John Tonje.
With all due respect to those guys, that’s not an ideal list of names for the Blazers. None of those four have proven to be playoff-caliber rotation pieces, and truthfully, it’s quite possible they never will. Krejci has the highest chance, but even in the best-case scenario, he’d probably just be a 10-15 MPG guy whose minutes are situation- and matchup-dependent.
Portland is badly missing another dependable forward for their reserve unit. That’s why Jerami Grant still being in Rip City would be so nice. He showed in 2025-26 that he could make a real impact in a sixth man role, averaging 16.3 points in games where he came off the bench and 19.7 when he stepped in as a starter.
Portland could soon regret moving on from Grant
Grant has his flaws, and he didn’t always put forth maximum effort during his time in Portland. But at his core, he’s a consistent shooter with positional size who can fit in numerous lineup combos and be trusted in playoff games. Again, that’s exactly what the Blazers could use right about now.
Portland’s decision to gamble on Ja Morant is entirely defensible. But that doesn’t mean there's not a chance the move blows up in their faces. The clunkiness of his fit on the team has been discussed to exhaustion, but rightfully so. Nobody felt like the Blazers needed another ball-dominant guard (or ball-dominant player, period).
What there is a clear need for, though, is a guy like Jerami Grant—an off-ball weapon on the wing.
If things go awry with Morant this season, the Blazers will really regret sacrificing Grant. And, even if Morant does look good in Rip City, the club may still have to hunt another player of Grant’s mold on the trade market.
Add us as a preferred source on Google