Jerami Grant has been tabbed as the biggest mistake credited to the Portland Trail Blazers in the last five years. Writing for ESPN, Zach Kram named one big error for each NBA franchise since the 2020 season. Grant’s five-year, $160 million contract extension signed in 2023 was Portland’s.
Kram explained:
Just one day after the Trail Blazers and Grant agreed to a new contract in summer 2023, news broke that Damian Lillard had requested a trade out of Portland. All of a sudden, an expensive but understandable long-term deal looked horribly out of place, as the veteran forward no longer fit on a retooling roster.
Two years later, Grant’s production has cratered — shooting a career-worst 37% from the field last season — and he has fallen behind the much younger Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara in Portland’s perimeter pecking order.
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.
That said, Portland’s supposed error was ranked in the lowest, least impactful tier of Kram’s list. Topping the chart was the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last year. After that came the Phoenix Suns trading for Kevin Durant and the Milwaukee Bucks trading for Damian Lillard, both in 2023.