Portland Trail Blazers are expected to be one of the active teams in the offseason hoping to buld around Damian Lillard. After appointing interim GM, Joe Cronin as the the head of the front office for the coming seasons, Portland turns its sight to the offseason.
According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, the Blazers are set to be a “strong suitor” for Jerami Grant. The Detroit Pistons forward will enter the last season of his current contract this summer.
After serving as a role player for his first six NBA seasons, the 6’8″ forward has averaged 20.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 110 appearances in Detroit. He also remained a solid defender, who can be utilized in many roles.
The Blazers will look to build around Damian Lillard, who played just 29 games last season due to an abdominal injury. The All-Star shot a career lows of 40.2 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three.
He underwent a surgery to fix the issue and Portland tanked its way to the lottery as they opted to trade CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Robert Covington and Larry Nance Jr. The Blazers will hope to return to their winning ways next season.
They have only seven players with guaranteed contracts with Josh Hart and Anfernee Simons likely being among the current free agents, they expected to keep. Simons is a restricted free agent, while Hart has $13 million salary on the books for next year.
Adding a veteran like Grant will help Portland add some wins in its record, while keeping long-term flexibility.
