Lakers, Blazers On Verge Of Completing Blockbuster Trade

The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers appear to be on the verge of making a blockbuster trade.

Jerami Grant has been closely linked to L.A. for months. And on paper it’s easy to see why.

Grant’s numbers are nice. Last season he averaged 21.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per Game. He is also an effective shooter, putting up 45.1 percent shooting from the field, 40.2 percent from three and 81.7 percent from the free-throw line.

That said, there are questions regarding what sort of impact he can have a non-bad team. It is easy to score well on the current Blazers; it is much harder to do so when you are sharing the ball with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

“Sources say the Lakers have held trade talks with the Portland Trail Blazers about Jerami Grant,” team insider Anthony Irvin reported.

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The problem thus far has been Portland’s instance that Grant coMMAnds two first-round draft picks. However, the expectation around the league is that sooner rather than later the Blazers will relent.

“The Lakers can trade two future first-round picks, in 2029 and 2031, but would not give up either for Grant,” NBA insider Sean Deveney wrote recently.

“The Blazers? The approach is they’re trading a star and want both Lakers picks. Perhaps as the summer wears on, the Blazers will have no choice but to recognize that.”

The opinion of various executives around the league is that eventually they will.

“Grant can play, he is a shooter, he is a good, active defender when he is engaged, he is going to do a lot of things that help your team,” an NBA exec told Deveney.

“But he is a third option. He has some big numbers the last few years, but he has done it on terrible teams. No one is going to make a big trade for a guy who gives you 20 (points) on a bad team and 13 (points) on a good one.

“Not with his contract. He is going to make $30 (million) next year $32 the year after that. Then he has two more years. You can’t pay your third option $34, 35 million. If Portland wants the Lakers, the [Miami] Heat, any of these teams to take him, they’ve got to recognize that.”

The reality is that the Blazers realize what their current position in the league is. They want to start anew.

Grant doesn’t fit into those plans.

Over the next few weeks, they will reduce the price on Grant. And when they do, the Lakers will swoop in and complete this trade.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.