NBA Rumors: Trail Blazers Could Pursue Pistons Forward Via Draft Pick Scenario

The Portland Trail Blazers may find it hard to advance to the play-in tournament although not having Damian Lillard around could make that task very difficult.

The 31-year-old guard has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing abdominal surgery, ESPN reported.

Hence, the current cast in Portland may not be enough with pundits feeling that the team would best focus on the future.

One name that has been mentioned as a target for the Blazers is Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons.

However, landing the 28-year-old forward would depend on a certain precedent as pointed out by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

One of the assets that the Trail Blazers can offer is the 2022 first-round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans.

This is something that they can offer, but only if it falls between the No. 5 and 14 selections in the June draft.

If it falls beyond that, the draft pick would lose significant value.

Alternatively, Portland has a draft pick of its own. Tanking could raise the value of that selection.

However, it remains unknown if that could be enough to entice a Jerami Grant trade.

For now, Grant has yet to sign a contract extension with the Pistons. He prefers to be the primary offensive option for the Pistons to sign a new pact, possibly a four-year contract worth around $112 million.

He has a year left in his current contract and is expected to weigh his options in the summer.

His status with the Pistons remains unclear. Before the February trade deadline, word got around that the 6-foot-8 forward would be traded.

Several teams were linked to Grant, but nothing fell through.

It is possible that Grant may not end up moving to a new NBA team at all if both sides can agree on a new deal.

So far, the Pistons have been trying to piece together a new core around Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey.

They also added Marvin Bagley III last February in a four-team deal.

Bagley is also looking for a huge deal by the summer although his numbers since moving to Detroit have shown improvement.

In the 13 games he played with the Pistons, Bagley has been averaging 13.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 26.5 minutes of action.