The Portland Trail Blazers had themselves an unusual NBA season in 2021-22. After trudging through a horrendous seven-game losing streak, they suddenly found themselves at just 11-18 halfway through December.
Shortly after that, Damian Lillard underwent abdominal surgery to correct an injury that had reportedly been bothering him for years and was shut down for the rest of the season. That marked the organization’s concerted decision to raise the white flag on the season.
After firing long-time Executive Neil Olshey for non-basketball reasons, the Blazers opted to strip the team of its veteran depth and pursue a tank for the remainder of the year.
Gone were CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Robert Covington, and Norman Powell, and in came Josh Hart, Keon Johnson, a ragtag combination of inconsequential young players and washed veterans, a 2025 first-rounder via the Milwaukee Bucks, and a couple of second-round picks.
Even though the return for all of those veterans seemed unworthy, the Blazers brass could still defend the trades considering they purposefully weakened their team to maximize draft odds.
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Alas, despite finishing with the sixth-worst record in the league, the lottery gods did not shine on Portland and the Blazers actually ended up moving back a slot to the No. 7 overall pick.
Let’s look at an NBA trade scenario that would send Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons to the Portland Trail Blazers.
