Why The Portland Trail Blazers Do The Deal
Firstly, the Blazers can’t do this deal until January 15. That’s perfect for them – after all, they might as well wait and see what they have here.
The Blazers have re-invented themselves over the last couple of years. They dealt C.J. McCollum at last year’s deadline, finally breaking up their offensively gifted but defensively limited backcourt. With that in mind, two-way wing Jerami Grant was a great trade acquisition.
For that matter, so was Josh Hart. The Blazers finally have a sufficient number of wing defenders. If Grant can prove to be a viable second option behind Lillard, they could be the most dangerous team they’ve been in the Lillard era.
With that said, Grant has never been the second option on a contender. We simply don’t know how that will look. If the Blazers are hovering around .500 by the 15th, they may have to start entertaining difficult decisions. Dealing their franchise point guard won’t be easy, but at 31, his clock is ticking.
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Landing a potential star in Herro, two first-round picks, and two swaps is about as good as they’re going to do for Lillard at this point.
If they wanted more, they should have run from the grind years ago.
