Trade & FA 2024-25:

[SleepingHero]

Jerami Grant has been a big talk recently but I can't get over this glaring issue: Availability.

Grant since leaving Denver:
54 GP
47 GP
63 GP
54 GP
Avg. 54.5 GP/yr

Porzingis the last 4 years:
43 GP
51 GP
65 GP
57 GP
Avg. 54.0 GP/yr


Grant next 4 years:
Age 30 due 29.8M
Age 31 due 32.0M
Age 32 due 34.2M
Age 33 due 36.4M
Total 4 yrs - 132.4M


I added KP for comparison. I think Grant is an okay offensive player, even if the only thing he does above league average is shoot the 3 ball. I just don't think it's a fit with the current roster construction nor do I think it's worth giving up future picks, and I can't get over the lack of availability...

To be fair, he's been on tanking teams in 3 out of those 4 years. They intentionally sat him to lose games. Look at the "injuries" they used as excuses:

DET 2021:
He was healthy and played every game until February, then these "injuries" came about
Rest- 1 game
Bruised quad- 2 games
Bruised quad again- 1 game
Knee soreness-3 games
Rest- 1 game
Bruised quad AGAIN- 1 game (sat out 1 game, played the next and had 26 points, and then you'll never guess what happened)
Bruised quad QUAD- 1 game
Rest- 1 game
Then a mysterious knee injury that wasn't specified came out and kept him out for the rest of the season- 9 games

DET 2022:
October-Left Elbow contusion- 1 game 
Then everything fine, played every game, until middle of December:
UCL tear in hand, needs surgery, out 6 weeks- 21 games
COVID-19 Protocols -2 games
Conditioning (no I'm not kidding)- 2 games

Then fine, and played every game until middle of march
Knee inflammation- 2 games
Left calf strain that kept him out till the end of the season- 8 games


Portland 2023:
November- Left ankle sprain- 1 game 
December- back contusion- 1 game
February- concussion- 3 games

Then by the middle of March and Portland was clearly out of the playoff race when Dame injured his ribs, they sat him and they tank out. Their reason, I kid you not:

Quad contusion- 14 games  

No please Mr. Silver, ignore the fact that Dame is sitting out, we've just traded CJ, and we're playing Ryan Arcidiacono 35 minutes.  We're not tanking at all!- Portland's GM probably.

Portland 2024- No Dame, No CJ, Scoot's Era:
Plays 19 games straight until December-

Concussion- 4 games
Illness- 1 game
Back tightness- 2 games

Now we're in March! Guess what time it is? Tankathon! Can you guess what "injury" excuse Portland used for Grant? Yep! You guessed it!

Quad/Hamstring- 21 games


So out of all of these injuries, only 1 was considered really serious. Which was the UCL tear. Everything else wreaks of tank-itis. I don't think Grant is fragile at all and we shouldn't be worried.