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The Portland Trail Blazers are assembling an up-and-coming in the Pacific Northwest, and after a strong end to last season, they finished with 36 wins, putting them to within striking distance of a play-in tournament spot. And their young core is only getting better, with Deni Avdija blossoming into an all-around force, Shaedon Sharpe making strides on both ends of the floor, Toumani Camara developing into one of the best defenders in the league, and Scoot Henderson set to get an opportunity to be the team's full-time starter at the point.
The Blazers also acquired Jrue Holiday to be the veteran leader of the team, someone who's played winning basketball across multiple stops who elevates Portland's defense even further. It should not come as a surprise to anyone if the Blazers come out of the gates firing next season and if they sustain that level of play to challenge for a playoff spot even in the stacked Western Conference.
But while things may be looking up for the Blazers, there are still some things they're going to have to address moving forward. Finding a taker for these two players should be the priority for the Portland front office as we head deeper into free agency period.
Blazers must trade at least one of Robert Williams III or Jerami Grant
Last season, the Blazers were involved in plenty of trade rumors, especially when they had such a logjam at center after drafting Donovan Clingan despite already having Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III on the roster. Duop Reath isn't too shabby of a bench piece either.
Williams, in particular, was drawing plenty of interest on the trade market, with teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, to name a few, reportedly debating whether or not it was worth it to trade for the oft-injured big man. In the end, the Blazers kept him around.
But now, Williams is in the final year of his contract, making $13.3 million, and it's of the essence for the Blazers to decide whether or not they'd keep 27-year-old around or decide to instead get as many assets as they can for him in a trade. Williams, however, has minimal value; he only played in 20 games last season and he continues to be as big of an injury risk as there is in the NBA.
Thus, there's a chance that the Blazers simply play things out with Williams, keeping him around to be insurance in case Clingan gets injured or finds himself in foul trouble or if their 2025 first-round pick, Hansen Yang, ends up proving all of his doubters right.
The Jerami Grant situation is a bit more tricky for the Blazers to navigate. Giving him a five-year, $160 million contract in 2023 was a big mistake, and it looks like an even worse error now that there's no way he's going to get his starting position back from Camara or Avdija or Sharpe.
Grant has three more years left on his huge deal, and he's also been conspicuously absent for good chunk of the past few seasons. He played just 47 games this past season and was bad whenever he was in the lineup.
He's coming off a terrible season in which he averaged just 14.4 points on a ghastly 37.3 percent shooting from the field (which he sort of rescued by shooting 36.5 percent from three on 6.3 attempts a night), and at a price point of over $32 million a season (increasing to $34 million in 2026 and $36 million in 2027), the Blazers, for better or for worse, are stuck with him.
At the very least, the Blazers' ledger is looking clear other than the bad contract of Grant and the heavy cap hit they took when they acquired Holiday. They can clear so much cap space in 2026, although they're going to fill that quickly when they sign Sharpe to an extension.
Trading Grant away makes them a player in next year's free agency, allowing them to add to their burgeoning young core with perhaps a piece that solidifies them as a playoff-caliber team.
But again, that is a pipe dream the Blazers may find impossible to pull off. They will have to attach draft assets to get off of Grant's contract or acquire a similarly bad contract.
Considering the state of the Blazers roster, there isn't much they must do heading into the 2025-26 campaign other than to hope to find a taker for either Williams or Grant. If they manage to do so, then lady luck must be smiling upon them from cheek to cheek.
