The Memphis Grizzlies had been looking to move on from Ja Morant for the better part of a year. They had already traded away Desmond Bane (to Orlando) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (to Utah), but the market for Morant — the guy who would have brought in a massive haul just a handful of years before — was virtually nonexistent.
Memphis eventually found the best offer it could and made a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, sending Morant to the Pacific Northwest. Who were the winners and losers in this deal? Let’s break it down, but first, a reminder of who is in the trade:
Portland receives: Ja Morant
Memphis receives: Jerami Grant, Kris Murray
Winner: Ja Morant
Morant needs a fresh start, a second chance. The opportunity to rehab his image, to go somewhere with a blank slate and write his own story. Again.
He gets that with this trade — and is outside the brightest of NBA media spotlights. Morant will get some space to breathe. He gets to be in a locker room with two of the best leaders in the sport, Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday. He will get the ball in his hands and an opportunity.
Morant could not have asked for more. Now it’s up to him. What does he do with it?
Winner: Trail Blazers fans
New owner Tom Durdon has come down with a serious case of New Owner Syndrome — he is sure he knows best and wants to put his mark on everything — but despite all his PR mistakes, he has given Trail Blazers fans a team they can really rally behind.
It’s unclear — and maybe unlikely — that Ja Morant can ever return to his peak All-Star form. Scouts speaking to NBC Sports have said he looks like he lost a little of his burst. Even if that is true, he walks in the door as the best passer on the roster, and he knows how to get downhill and make plays.
It’s a huge, home run swing by the Trail Blazers — but those are fun to watch. Trail Blazers fans will go to games, tune into broadcasts and know they will be entertained. Maybe key guys stay healthy, new coach Micah Nori pushes all the right buttons — there is a good chance of that, he’s a great hire, even if he had to take an owner-friendly contract — and Portland is better than the 42-win team from a season ago. A starting/closing five of Morant, Lillard, Holiday, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan is a group I will tune in to watch.
This trade is a win for Portland fans. Whether it’s a win for the Trail Blazers’ organization is TBD, but the fans get the W.
Notice when I listed all the guards the Trail Blazers had above, Scoot Henderson was not on the list. The fact that Portland made a trade for Morant essentially tells you what you need to know about how they view Henderson long term.
Portland will deny that and say all the right things about loving Henderson, and this was just too good an opportunity to pass up, but actions matter, not words. Henderson did take a step forward last season when healthy and averaged 14.2 points a game (that’s across the 30 games he played, he missed the start of the season with a left hamstring injury).
You can be sure other teams are calling Portland right now to check on Henderson’s availability, thinking they can give him a chance and minutes he won’t get in Portland this season. We’ll see if anything comes of it, but this was not a trade that signaled confidence in Henderson.
Beige flag: Memphis
This was not a good trade for Memphis. The Grizzlies traded a popular player and two-time All-Star for a player in Grant they don’t need — the Memphis front court is already stacked — and it’s just pennies on the dollar of return. A few years ago, Morant would have brought in a massive haul of picks and players, now it’s basically just matching salary.
This isn’t a bad trade, either. For Memphis, this trade is about moving on. The Grizzlies have now fully pivoted away from the Morant, Jackson Jr. and Bane as the big three plan. They have Cameron Boozer and the chance to start fresh. It was a trade Memphis had to make even if the return wasn’t what they hoped.
Not good, not bad, but a clean slate for the Grizzlies as they head into next season. That’s about as good as they were going to do.
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