The Trail Blazers made a handful of trades right around this year’s draft in June, including agreeing to acquire Deni Avdija from Washington in a deal that was eventually finalized in July. Portland hasn’t been active on the trade market since then, but Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian wouldn’t be shocked if the club makes one more big move later this summer or in the fall.
“I would be surprised if Jerami (Grant) or Anfernee Simons, if one of the two is not moved,” Fentress said during an appearance on Sactown Sports 1140 in Sacramento (YouTube link; hat tip to HoopsHype). “I was told that that’s definitely the goal, that one of the two would probably be gone before training camp. Both being gone? That might be different. They obviously have time. They can wait until the trade deadline and see if someone else will offer more.”
As Fentress explains, the Trail Blazers have made it clear that they view Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe as franchise building blocks in the backcourt, but Simons is probably better than both of them right now.
That could create problems this fall, Fentress suggests, since the Blazers will have to decide whether they want to start all three guards or if Simons will be in the lineup over one of those cornerstone players. If Simons isn’t in the starting five, he likely wouldn’t be thrilled with his situation, Fentress speculates.
As for Grant, there’s no real urgency for the Blazers to make a move there, since they don’t have a similar logjam at forward and the 30-year-old is under contract for at least three more seasons. But Fentress believes Grant would like to spend his remaining prime years with a team closer to contention rather than one going through a rebuild.
“I predict both of them will be gone by next summer,” Fentress said.
While Fentress didn’t mention the center position, that may be another spot where something has to give sooner or later. Portland selected Donovan Clingan in this year’s draft lottery, adding the rookie to a group of fives that already includes Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams. Williams has battled injuries and Clingan may not be ready to play a significant role right away, so the club may stick with all three big men in the short term, but it seems unlikely they’ll all be part of the Blazers’ long-term future.
Sharpe is a stud, Avdija is a swiss tool that was a phenomenal pickup. Both All-Star ceilings.
Scoot? TBD but the investment is made.
Keeping all their big men – Ayton, Clingan and RWIII is the smart move. In a league moving back to valuing more traditional bigs they’ll have wealthy assets.
Simons doesn’t fit the new time line and has a bloated contract. He should go 1st. Blocking minutes from the young guards.
Jerami Grant great vet to have on a young team. Hold him just long enough until he’s overvalued by a playoff team, then sell.
If Avdija’s a phenomenal pickup, then the Blazers probably move up to the 14th place in the West this coming season.
All those big aren’t really great investments to keep. Ayton only has 2 years left and isn’t worth the money he’s on and now blocking the way for Clingan. RobWill, he’s a beast but he’s still taking time to recover from his injury who knows when he’s back and for now his value is very low because of the injury. He will have to work his value back up and again he’s only signed for two seasons. Then you’ve got Doup Reath who earned his minutes last year you just going to sit him for no good reason?
The best move would be trade Ayton, gives Clingan good minutes and behind him Reath and Rob. Rob builds his value back up and next season as a 12 mil expiring deal he could have really really good value
They know they are afraid to let these guys go.
Plus they are tanking so they’re not gonna want a good player like Simons
Simons better than Sharpe and Scoot? You obviously haven’t seen him play defense or toss up brick after brick without a look at his teammates! He a worse version of Lillard one dimensional and not a good team player. Him and Grant have only played ISO ball here and stuffed their scoring averages.
If Grant wanted to spend his prime years on a contender he should have never left Denver.
I have always liked Grant. Imo he’s underrated. Great 2way talent with size
(3 or 4). He fits Heat like a Glove. Now that would be major.
Knickerbocker Al , let’s assume the size of a player’s contract is the measure of how a player is rated. Portland rated Jerami Grant so highly they he has about $137M left on his 4 year contract.
When you say “he’s underrated”, Portland fans would take that as you think he’s worth more. I’ll assume that you’re remembering the Jerami Grant from Detroit a few years ago, but that Grant is long gone.
In fact, few NBA players have performed worse relative to their contract over the last couple of years tha Grant. Portland has been trying to dump him for 9 months, but no other team will take him unless Portland swallows most of his salary or compensates them with picks or good players.
i cant find a team that would want to trade for simons. good talk and all for portland to move on from him, but it looks like he doesn’t have a fit for any team because of his contract. memphis?
Magic always needs shooting
Grant is not going anywhere Portland. Perish the thought.