Ja Morant Trade Grades After Memphis Grizzlies-Portland Trail Blazers Blockbuster

Ja Morant is headed to the...Portland Trail Blazers.

The Memphis Grizzlies are sending the two-time All-Star to Rose City in exchange for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. No draft picks are involved in the trade.

What does ending the Ja Morant Era mean for the Grizzlies? And what's the plan in Portland after acquiring yet another guard?

Our red pencils are out, sharpened and ready to shed clarity on this genuinely shocking blockbuster with a fresh batch of trade grades.

Memphis Grizzlies: B

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This is a pittance for Ja Morant, the All-NBA player. Except, the Grizzlies are not trading Ja Morant "The All-NBA Player." They are trading Ja Morant, "The Player Who Has Appeared In Fewer Than One Season's Worth Of Games The Past Three Years."

As someone reliant on declining athleticism and subject to a checkered health bill, Morant always had less value than fellow distressed-asset guards LaMelo Ball and Trae Young. This package reflects that.

Memphis is effectively deciding there's more value in moving on and starting over than holding out hope Morant's value improves. That's the right call. The Grizzlies have a new primary cornerstone in Cam Boozer. Keeping Morant around risked creating an even more awkward dynamic than openly shopping him had already created over the past year or so.

Jerami Grant's contract receives a lot of criticism, but paying $70.6 million over the next two years for a wing who defends, hits threes and can still generate his own shot from time to time isn't the end of the world. Rerouting him won't be hard. If the Grizz retain him, he will join Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Zach Edey and Isaiah Stewart as bodies who can help insulate Boozer on defense.

Kris Murray provides more defensive relief and has sneaky pop when given an open runway at the other end. If he finally sniffs league average from downtown, Memphis could have a surprise keeper off the bench on its hands.

Granted, we can't call any non-core player a "keeper" right now. The Grizzlies have more than $25 million in room beneath the tax and too many players on the docket. More moves are coming—and they'll be easier to make now that they've ripped off the Ja Morant Band-Aid.

Portland Trail Blazers: D

Justin Ford/Getty Images

Congratulations to Tom Dundon for discovering a previously unknown strain of New Owner's Syndrome. Condolences to him and the Blazers' fanbase for his also being infected with it.

The value proposition here is defensible. Ja Morant has a much higher potential apex than Jerami Grant or Kris Murray. Even if he's never a caps-lock STAR again, Portland is getting the most talented player without adding a ton of payroll or forking over any draft picks.

Then again, are we prepared to guarantee Morant is still the best player going out? His rim frequency and free-throw-attempt rate have both been in relative decline since 2022. That's typically a harbinger of athletic decline.

This is problematic regardless of the player. But it is dire in Morant's case, as someone who has never shot a league-average clip from beyond the arc and must be covered for, 10 times over, on the defensive end.

Even if the soon-to-be 27-year-old regains some of his previous swagger, his fit with the Blazers is ambiguous at its most charitable. Portland is overloaded with guards, and Morant's play style isn't particularly adaptable. He has never cut with enough frequency to be used off the ball and has not ranked higher than the 31st percentile in catch-and-shoot three-point efficiency since he was a rookie, according to BBall Index.

Deni Avdija, Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard are all functionally flexible. But any acquisition that necessitates putting the ball in Deni's or Dame's hands less is counterintuitive at best and implosive at worst.

Portland is also fracturing a strong defensive infrastructure. Any lineup that has two of Ja, Dame and Shaedon Sharpe on the floor could get flamed. Complicated still, Morant's arrival doesn't augur well for Scoot Henderson's future.

Another move or two is on the way for the Blazers, because frankly, it has to be. Perhaps this deal looks better in tandem with what's to come. For now, it grades out as unnecessary, difficult to justify and possibly reckless.

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Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.