GOOD NEWS: Miami Heat Head Coach With The Last Laugh After Completing Their Desperate Move For $160 Million Star

However, the Heat undoubtedly need to make a change. They have not kept up with the Eastern Conference’s talent increase in the last year or so, falling clearly behind the Boston Celtics but now trailing the Knicks and Sixers and, at best, on par with the Cavaliers, Magic, Bucks, and Pacers.

At best, the Heat are the fourth seed in the East. It is far more likely that they are a play-in team.

Rumours that the Heat want to keep their options open in order to sign another top player have faded, but that is where we stand. They’ve been linked to Jazz big man Lauri Markkanen, who may not be dealt, and DeMar DeRozan, who signed with Sacramento instead.

However, forward Jerami Grant remains on the trade market as a potential solution to the Miami Heat’s disappointing offseason. However, a deal would need the Heat—and the Blazers, for that matter—to put last year’s contentious Damian Lillard trade talks (or lack thereof) behind them and focus on the present.

Whether you like it or not, the Blazers should be desperate to get rid of Grant, while the Heat should be desperate to get him. According to one Western Conference executive, “I think that it would come down to desperation vs. desperation in a trade for him.”

Jerami Grant’s contract is difficult to trade.
The difficulty in bringing Grant to Miami extends beyond the poison pill that keeps the two franchises apart.

Before the Lillard saga began, Portland took the unusual step of signing Grant to a massive new contract for $160 million over five years early last summer. However, Lillard’s departure has sent the Blazers into a rebuilding mode, and Grant has no place in the organization right now.

The Heat would contemplate trading for Grant as a way to aid Portland by getting rid of a problematic contract. However, the Blazers would consider themselves to be dealing a high-scoring asset to Miami and would want to be compensated appropriately.

Last season, Grant averaged 21.0 points on 45.1% shooting with a rather low rebound total (3.5 per game) for a power forward. He suffered with injuries and only played 54 games for the Blazers.

However, he has recently developed into a 3-point shooter, shooting 40.1% from the arc on 5.7 attempts in 2022-23 and 40.2% on 5.1 attempts the previous year. That makes him a great match for the fourth spot next to Adebayo.

A genuine offer from the Heat might include Terry Rozier’s contract (which has two years and $51 million remaining) and the Heat’s first-round pick in the 2024 draft, Kel’el Ware. This lessens the Blazers’ financial commitment while providing a young asset.

A Tyler Herro for Grant move makes sense as well, but Portland made it clear last year that Herro is not a high-value trading asset.

Heat Would Again Have to Deal With ‘Stubborn’ Blazers.
The executive stated it like this:

“Jerami Grant can play; he is a shooter, a terrific, active defender, and when he is engaged, he will do a lot of things to help your team. But he’s a third choice. He has put up some impressive stats over the last several years, but he has done so on horrible teams. A player who contributes 20 points on a bad squad and 13 on a good one is unlikely to be traded.Not under his contract. He will make $30 (million) next year and $32 the next year. Then he has another two years. You are unable to pay your third option of $34.35 million. If Portland wants the Lakers, Heat, or any of these teams to sign him, they must acknowledge that. The Heat, undoubtedly, is their adversary.”

The problem is that the Blazers want something in the area of two first-round picks for Grant. They’re not going to get it, but if we learned anything from Portland’s Joe Cronin last year, it’s that he’ll stick to his guns, even if it means paying the price.

“They’re stubborn,” the executive stated about the Blazers. “Part of the job is to be stubborn, though. But part of the job is also seeing your mistakes and getting out of them. Grant was a mistake. Trading him now just to get out of that salary is the right thing to do, take whatever picks or young guys you can get.”