Portland Trail Blazers Shouldn't Trade Jerami Grant

The Portland Trail Blazers were built to outlast teams like the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz, but they're still not seen as a team that will surpass the top guard in the Western Conference anytime soon.

Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey believes the Blazers aren't a contender as currently constructed, and believes the front office should try to sell Jerami Grant for a future pick to make the team worse in the interim.

Even though Bailey acknowledged that Deni Avdija is a franchise player, he either essentially admitted the Israeli wing isn't "the guy," or the surrounding cast is nowhere close to being up-to-snuff with the prediction. Or both.

"The Portland Trail Blazers are in a situation similar to a handful of other teams in that they need to stay a certain level of bad to keep their 2026 pick," Bailey prefaced before saying, "For Portland, if the pick winds up outside the lottery, it goes to the Chicago Bulls. And based on current records and simulations of the remainder of the season, there's around a 30 percent chance that's exactly what happens.

"Now, it wouldn't be the end of the world for the Blazers. They already have a franchise cornerstone-level talent on the right side of his prime in Deni Avdija. There's plenty of young talent around him too.

"But this version of the team isn't going to compete for titles in the next couple years. And adding another top 5-10 pick to the core should be enticing enough to unload Jerami Grant in a deal that makes Portland worse in the short term."

Blazers Didn't Pay Shaedon Sharpe and Trade for Jrue Holiday to be Bad

This is probably not going to be Portland's plan.

The Blazers handed Shaedon Sharpe a four-year, $90 million rookie extension to take a leap, and the former Kentucky Wildcat has. They traded for Jrue Holiday to have an impact on the locker room, and based on the improvements from guys like Toumani Camara and Sidy Cissoko defensively, it's looking like that's paying off. His calf injury didn't allow the world to see what the on-court product looked like over long stretches just yet, but that should change soon.

Portland is not a pushover that will fade. The right Grant trade could make them an instant contender. Whether or not Joe Cronin can find the right deal is another story, but he's been hitting on more than he's missed for a few years. That gets lost on the national media at times.