The Portland Trail Blazers just made the boldest move of the 2026 NBA offseason. Portland acquired two-time All-Star Ja Morant from the Memphis Grizzlies for Jerami Grant, Kris Murray, and $1 million in cash. Just like that, one of the most explosive guards in basketball is a Blazer.
Morant is 26 years old and still under contract through the 2027 to 2028 season. He is in year four of his five-year, $197 million designated rookie extension. His talent, when healthy and on the court, is not up for debate. He has averaged 25 or more points per game in three separate seasons and finished second in the MVP voting in 2022.
The problem has been the availability. Morant has played only 79 games in three seasons since his 2023 All-Star appearance thanks to a combination of injuries and off-court issues. That is the risk Portland is taking on. When he plays, he is a top-15 player. He just has not been playing enough.
For Memphis, this trade is the end of a very specific era. The Grizzlies have now traded away all three of their former franchise cornerstones. Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr. are all gone. The team that swept out of the first round by Oklahoma City in 2025 is officially entering a rebuild, and general manager Zach Kleiman is collecting picks and young players to remake the roster.
Grant is a solid veteran wing whose contract makes the salary math work. Murray is a young forward who might turn into something. The picks Memphis got in the deal, and the ones already accumulated from other moves, give them real ammunition to be aggressive in the next two drafts.
Portland is taking the opposite bet. The Blazers have Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija, and Donovan Clingan on the roster. Adding Morant to that group creates a compelling young core that could theoretically compete in the West sooner than anyone expected.
The catch is that Portland has to make Morant work. That means keeping him healthy, which no one has managed to do consistently. That means integrating him with Henderson, which is a real basketball challenge given both are ball-dominant guards. That means keeping him out of the off-court trouble that derailed his time in Memphis.
Head coach Chauncey Billups has his work cut out for him. But the upside is undeniable. If Morant plays 70-plus games and looks anything like his pre-2023 self, Portland becomes an instant playoff team in the West.
Grade this trade in two years, not two months. The Blazers gave up meaningful assets and took on a real risk. The reward is one of the most exciting perimeter players of his generation, still theoretically in his prime, playing next to a young roster with room to grow.
Portland is not the destination anyone expected for Morant. But the Blazers just made themselves relevant again, and that alone is worth the price of admission.
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.
