Shams: Ja Morant to POR for Jerami Grant & Kris Murray

[Donoghus]

I don't know what to make of this one.

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
1m
BREAKING: The Memphis Grizzlies are trading two-time NBA All-Star Ja Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, sources tell ESPN.

[Who]

Poor Scoot Henderson.

It looked like he was starting to find his feet in the league and now his team brings in Ja Morant to take away all the PG minutes. He needs to move on.

[celticinorlando]

Thank you God we don't have to have Grant on this team next season.

I do not think there is a deal to be had with Portland now.

[RodyTur10]

Wow. What does this mean for a potential Brown deal?

Is it off? Or are things almost settled and is a guard in Henderson or Holiday coming to Boston?

There really was no market for Morant, but I'm surprised that Portland is taking a swing.

[celticinorlando]

Wow. What does this mean for a potential Brown deal?

Is it off? Or are things almost settled and is a guard in Henderson or Holiday coming to Boston?

There really was no market for Morant, but I'm surprised that Portland is taking a swing.

I could see Holiday, Scoot. Sharpe and 3 or 4 number 1s for Brown. Then Boston moves some of those pieces for Murphy

[Roy H.]

Portland has all of the PGs.  Wow.

[celticinorlando]

Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes
?
44s
The Portland Trail Blazers envision a starting backcourt of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant alongside Deni Avdija on the wing. A very unconventional move that the franchise believes has upside. Ja Morant gets his fresh start. Jerami Grant and Kris Murray off to Memphis.

[Who]

Memphis should start Jerami Grant and move Jaylen Wells to the bench. I like what Kris Murray showed last year but he will likely be a 3rd stringer in Memphis being those 2 other SFs.

G: Scottie Pippen Jr, Ty Jerome
G: Cedric Coward, K Caldwell-Pope
F: Jerami Grant, Jaylen Wells, Kris Murray
F: Cam Boozer, Santi Aldama
C: Zach Edey, Isaiah Stewart

Others: Walter Clayton Jr, Karim Lopez (another SF)

That is a slow footed team. Slow bigs. Slow guards.

[Who]

Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes
?
44s
The Portland Trail Blazers envision a starting backcourt of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant alongside Deni Avdija on the wing. A very unconventional move that the franchise believes has upside. Ja Morant gets his fresh start. Jerami Grant and Kris Murray off to Memphis.

Lillard & Morant together are going to be terrible.

Unplayable defensively. They are going to get hammered.

[Donoghus]

Portland has all of the PGs.  Wow.

Somewhere David Kahn is smiling.

[Roy H.]

Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes
?
44s
The Portland Trail Blazers envision a starting backcourt of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant alongside Deni Avdija on the wing. A very unconventional move that the franchise believes has upside. Ja Morant gets his fresh start. Jerami Grant and Kris Murray off to Memphis.

So strange.  So Jrue is the $35 million backup?

Screw it, send Jrue back here.  I love the guy.  Jrue, Sharpe, four #1s.

[celticinorlando]

I have no idea what Portland is doing. 4 PGs on the roster and then you have sharpe.

[Roy H.]

Portland has all of the PGs.  Wow.

Somewhere David Kahn is smiling.

Wow.  Love that reference.  I wonder what Johnny Flynn is up to these days.

[Who]

This feels like a bad trade for both teams.

If POR pulls off the Jaylen Brown trade and clears out some of those guards, maybe this could work out well for them.

Without Jaylen, they look much worse to me. That backcourt with Lillard & Morant is going to be terrible. They just traded away their best backup forward in Jerami Grant and their 2nd best one in Kris Murray. They lack depth there. They now have no quality at backup forward combined with too much depth at guard that they cannot give enough minutes too.

I do not understand it for Memphis. They already had two young SFs who need minutes in Jaylen Wells and Karim Lopez. They have no need for Jerami Grant or Kris Murray. Grant still has 2 years on his deal like Morant does. They would have been better off keeping Morant and letting him leave on a free in 2 years time. Morant is a better fit for what that team needs than Jerami Grant / Kris Murray are.

[celticinorlando]

Maybe Brad has a deal for JB elsewhere and Portland moved to plan B?

OR maybe they are just keeping Brown.