The Ja Morant era in Memphis is over. Ship him to Portland and start over.
The Grizzlies traded the two-time All-Star to the Trail Blazers for Jerami Grant, Kris Murray, and $1 million in cash. Morant, the No. 2 overall pick in 2019, is still under contract through 2027-28 on the five-year, $197 million designated rookie extension he signed in Memphis.
Portland absorbs a max deal for a top-30 talent. Memphis gets salary flexibility and complete permission to start fresh. Both sides think they won.
Memphis Blew It All Up
The Grizzlies have now moved Morant, Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. since being swept by Oklahoma City in the 2025 playoffs. That is the entire core of the team that was supposed to challenge for a title.
Call it a reset or a surrender. Either word applies. The new Grizzlies era belongs to Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 pick in the 2026 draft and the franchise’s clear future.
Building around a rookie is a slow, painful process. Memphis decided a slow rebuild beat another five years of first-round exits with a max-contract point guard who could not stay healthy.
Portland’s Backcourt Is Now a Puzzle
The Blazers already had Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday in the backcourt. Add Morant to that group and you have three ball-dominant guards trying to share 48 minutes.
The minutes math does not work cleanly. Holiday can slide off ball. Morant cannot. Lillard is still Lillard.
Portland head coach Chauncey Billups has to figure out lineups that maximize each guy without leaving one of them standing in the corner watching. That is not an easy assignment.
Deni Avdija Is Still the Franchise
Lost in all the guard talk is the fact that Deni Avdija remains Portland’s actual centerpiece. He is younger than the guards. He fits every lineup. He does the work on both ends of the floor.
Morant is the shiny new toy, but Avdija is the one Portland will be building around for the next seven years. This trade only works long term if it makes Avdija’s job easier.
Adding a downhill playmaker who commands defensive attention should do exactly that. Avdija is going to see cleaner looks than he has ever seen.
The Health Question Never Goes Away
Morant has played more than 61 games in a season exactly once in his career. The talent is enormous. The availability has been a real problem.
Portland is betting a change of scenery, a lower usage rate and fewer nightly heroics equal a healthier Ja. That is a reasonable bet. It is also the bet Memphis stopped wanting to make.
What This Means for the West
Portland made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2021. Adding Morant to a young core coming off that appearance should push them into the 6-seed conversation immediately.
They are not a title contender. They are a fun, chaotic team that will scare somebody in the first round. In today’s Western Conference, that is real progress.
Memphis is somebody else’s problem now. Portland gets a superstar. The league gets more chaos.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
