Proving to be a key contributor alongside Damian Lillard with the Portland Trail Blazers this past season, Jerami Grant is not going anywhere after signing a new contract. According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, Grant and the Blazers have agreed on a 5-year, $160 million deal that will keep him with Portland through the 2027-28 season.
Known for being nothing more than a role player earlier on in his career, Grant made a name for himself as a two-way threat on the wing and really came into his own as a primary scoring option during the 2020-21 season with the Detroit Pistons. After spending two full seasons with the Pistons, the Trail Blazers acquired Grant ahead of the start of this past season for a 2025 first-round pick from Milwaukee and future second-round draft picks.
Playing in 63 games this past year, all of which he started in, Grant averaged 20.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and a career-best 40.1 percent from three-point range. Grant's 35.7 minutes per game average was also the highest of his career.
Jerami Grant's fit with Blazers' future
Putting up All-Star-like numbers early on this past season, Grant is exactly the kind of two-way player the Trail Blazers have been looking to have alongside Lillard for a long time. Both players have developed great chemistry with one another and Lillard was a driving force behind the team first acquiring Grant from the Pistons last summer.
It never seemed like Grant's future with the Blazers was in question, as the team went out and got him with the intention of him being more than a one-year rental. Wanting to continue building around Lillard and turn themselves into a true playoff contender again, Portland believes Grant is instrumental to their potential success, hence why they felt the need to give him this new $X million contract.
In the midst of an integral offseason, the Blazers continue to evaluate all of their options outside of Lillard and Grant. After drafting Scoot Henderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, the Trail Blazers have a path to long-term success beginning to take shape, but this is an organization that is wanting to capitalize on the prime of their star's career. Getting Lillard the help he needs and the surrounding him with the right supporting cast is essential, which is why bringing back Grant was important.
Grant, 29, will enter the 2023-24 season in Portland looking to average over 20 points per game for the second consecutive season, something he has never done over the course of his now nine-year NBA career. Ranked as one of the best forwards available in free agency this offseason, Grant is staying with the Trail Blazers.
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