Portland Trail Blazers: Improbable 4 step plan to a win-now 2022 offseason

Step 4: Trade for Jerami Grant

At this stage, the team is probably already in the luxury tax, but the trade that netted Josh Hart opened up a huge trade exception just big enough to absorb Jerami Grant’s $20.9 million salary for 2022-23.

This would likely require sending Detroit the better of its likely 2022 first-round picks, leaving the Blazers with a solid top seven rotation of Lillard, Beal, Grant, Hart, Simons, Nurkic, and the free-agent signed to the mid-level exception, buoyed by the low salary pieces currently on the team, and any vets willing to join on a minimum deal.

Grant would be an ideal fit as a third option next to Lillard and Beal.