According to Woj,The Trail Blazers trade for Jerami Grant.2025 Bucks first-round pickthe 36th pick in the second round this year, and the 2025, 2026 second-round pick, the Blazers also got the Pistons’ 46th pick this year.The Blazers used a ~20M trade exception from the mid-season CJ deal in this trade（Trade Exception, TE），Therefore, it is possible to achieve salary parity and get Grant without paying any players.And the Pistons got the equivalent of TE and huge salary space in this transaction, and the free market is likely to do big things this year.
Detroit has traded Jerami Grant to Portland for 2025 first-round pick via Milwaukee, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2022
fight and go
The deal proves that what Blazers general manager GM Joe Cronin said at the end of this year’s season-end press conference isn’t just to appease fans: The Blazers aren’t going toward a complete rebuild, they’re trying to get back their competitiveness and go for it.At this point in time, Cronin hopes to get the pioneers back on track in the short term. From an internal need, they have to do it too — it’s a paradox when you’ve got Lillard talking about rebuilding. In addition, considering the draft rights, the Blazers’ first-round draft picks are all lottery-protected. If they want to lift the ban and be able to operate, they need to send a non-lottery first-rounder, that is, return to the playoffs.
In the mid-season trade, the Blazers sent two forwards in one go, and the strength of the No. 4 position plummeted, so welcoming Grant was a painless upgrade for the team. Grant was also Dame’s teammate for the U.S. team at the Olympics, and the two developed a friendship during the trip, making him one of Lillard’s favorites. Judging from his age, Grant is currently 28 years old, in his prime, and has a few more years to come.
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The calculation behind the transaction
The trade rumors between Jerami Grant and the Blazers have actually been going on for a long time, and even after the game with the Pistons last season, the photo of the players on both sides revealed some clues.However, the final transaction price was not the No. 7 pick in this year’s draft of the Trailblazers, but another available draft pick of the Trailblazers, the 2025 Bucks’ first-round pick. Does it mean that Grant was sold low?
— Josh Hart (@joshhart) June 22, 2022
The trade will choose to close at this moment, which may represent a reason for the Pistons to be eager to clear cap space.After this deal, the Pistons have the largest salary cap in the league this summer, up to 46.9M.This allows them to offer a contract level price of tens of millions in addition to being able to eat a max-paid player. In addition, they also received a special salary of 20M for the contract level with Grant. Considering these chips that can be operated in the market, they will not actually sell low.
As for the Pioneers’ choice to depress the trigger at this point, it shows that they will not use the traditional practice of clearing space to sign this summer, which is also expected. As mentioned in the previous article, there are three main pioneers who want to renew their contracts. Although there seems to be a lot of space, all free agents will occupy a part of the cap of the salary space, and TE will also be included in the cap, which is unlikely to be. Choose to give up all of these assets. Taking Grant’s 20M salary seems to be a lot, but the pioneers actually only have Lillard’s contract exceeding 10M now, and the others are small contracts.If the Hart 12.9M contract scheduled to be executed is also included, the current guaranteed contract for the Blazers next season is about 75M. Even if this price is added to Grant’s contract, it is 147M away from the luxury tax line.(estimated value)Still more than enough, even enough to talk about extension offers for Simons and Nurkić.For both parties, choosing a transaction at this point in time can be said to each get what they want.
Pioneer’s front line answer?
So, is Grant the Blazers’ answer to the front line? Jerami Grant unexpectedly opted out two years ago to renew his contract with the playoff powerhouse Nuggets and play for Motor City. He did play better, too:In the past two years in the Pistons, he averaged 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 hot pot, and is the most stable player in the Pistons.
