Trail Blazers sign Jerami Grant to monstrous five-year contract

Grant reportedly turned down a four-year extension worth nearly $113M from Portland during the 2022-23 league year. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, a primary reason the veteran forward decided to wait until free agency to sign was to add a fifth year onto the end of the deal, significantly increasing its total value (Twitter link).

As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets, Portland projects to be $21M below the luxury tax line after accounting for Grant’s new contract. The Blazers will still have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (which starts at $12.4M) and a $8.3M trade exception at their disposal in an effort to build around star Damian Lillard, Gozlan adds.

Grant is in the middle of his prime and was one of the top free agents in the 2023 class. The 28-year-old combo forward averaged 20.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 2.4 APG, 0.8 SPG and 0.8 BPG on .475/.401/.813 shooting in 63 games last season (35.7 MPG).

While Grant is a talented two-way player who brings valued versatility, a five-year deal worth $32M annually is obviously an enormous commitment — both in years and dollars — to a player who has never been an All-Star.

Grant is a developmental success story, slowly working his way up the ranks with the Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets before breaking out as a 20-point scorer with the Detroit Pistons, who traded him to Portland last summer. He entered the NBA with a poor jump shot, but has continued to improve his game year-over-year.

Grant is the third former second-round pick (39th overall in 2014) to land a nine-figure deal this summer, joining Draymond Green and Khris Middleton.